Bangalore, March 31, 2006 (IANS)

State-owned Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) will make special vehicles to transport the BrahMos cruise missiles and Pinaka rocket launchers for the armed forces, a top company official said here Friday.

'We have been manufacturing launch vehicles for carrying various types of missiles for the defence services with 8x8 and 10x10 axles. For transporting the BrahMos missiles on to war ships, we are assembling 12x12 axle Tatra vehicles,' BEML chairman V.R.S. Natarajan told IANS here.

BrahMos, the world's only supersonic cruise missile, was jointly developed by India and Russia. The navy version of the surface-to-air missile has entered service.

'When the other two versions of BrahMos are launched, we will modify the vehicle to make it a launcher for the army and a carrier for the air force,' Natarajan said.

The defence sector accounted for about 30 percent of the Rs.22 billion sales turnover of BEML in fiscal 2005-06.

The company is now bracing up to supply about 1,000 vehicles, including heavy-duty Tatra trucks, trailers, mine-ploughs and recovery vehicles, over the next two to three years.