New Delhi: India today successfully test-fired the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missile aimed at increasing its life from 10 to 15 years from a test range along the Odisha coast to validate some new features.
The missile was test fired from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur along the Odisha coast at about 10.44 AM, said sources in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The trial was conducted to validate its “life extension” technologies developed for the first time in India by DRDO and team BrahMos, said an official of the ITR.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated DRDO scientists and team BrahMos for the successful launch of BrahMos missile with new technology today.
Smt @nsitharaman congratulates Team Brahmos & @DRDO_India for successful flight test carried out at 1040 hrs on 21 May 2018 from ITR, Balasore to validate BRAHMOS missile life extension technologies developed for the first time in India. 1/2
— Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) May 21, 2018
“Smt @nsitharaman congratulates Team Brahmos & @DRDO_India for successful flight test carried out at 1040 hrs on 21 May 2018 from ITR, Balasore to validate BRAHMOS missile life extension technologies developed for the first time in India,” her office said in a Twitter post.
The two-stage missile first being solid and the second one, a ramjet liquid propellant has already been introduced in the Army and Navy, while the Air Force version had witnessed the successful trial, the DRDO scientists said.
BrahMos variants can be launched from land, air, sea and underwater. India successfully launched the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi-30 MKI combat jet for the first time against a target in the Bay of Bengal in November 2017, they said.
The missiles land and naval variants are already in service. At least two Su-30 squadrons with 20 planes each are planned to be equipped with the air-launch variant BrahMos missile, 500 kg lighter than land/naval variants.
India has already extended the range of the three-tonne missile from its earlier 290 km to 400 km and successfully test-fired the variant in March 2017.
Increasing the missile’s range from 400 km to further 800 km is now possible after India’s induction into the Missile Technology Control Regime in June 2016, they said.
Currently, the Army is equipped with three regiments of Block 111 version of Brahmos missile. Induction of the first version of BrahMos missile system in Indian Navy began with INS Rajput in 2005. It is now fully operational with two regiments of the Army, said the scientists.
The Indian Army has already inducted three regiments of BrahMos in its arsenal. All are equipped with Block-III version of the missile. The land-attack version of BrahMos has been operationalised in the Indian Army since 2007.
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