India on Monday test-fired a supersonic cruise missile BrahMos off the Odisha coast, Indian media reported.
The missile is said to be an all-weather weapon system. It was fired at 10:18 am from a test range at Chanddipur in Balasore district.
It has a flight range of up to 290 kms and is equipped with many time efficient features. It not only reduces the flight time but ensures lower dispersion of targets, quick engagement time and non-interception by any known weapon system in the world. The missile can be as fast as three times the speed of sound, officials said.
The life extension test was able to achieve all its parameters, said the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The initiative is a joint venture between India’s DRDO and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia of Russia.
On January 18, the Modi administration test-fired Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from the Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.
Sharing borders with nuclear-armed China and Pakistan, India test-fired the missile when Israel has already announced that India was restarting talks with the country over a cancelled deal to buy anti-tank missiles.
Sudhir Kumar Mishra, Chief of BrahMos Aerospace, had told PTI, “The test-firing to “validate service life extension” of the missile will take place from a test range at Chandipur in Odisha in the third week of July.” He also said that the vertical dive capability of BrahMos can be used to target enemies or subjects hiding in mountains and aircraft carriers.
BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya. The collaboration is responsible for the design, development and production of the missile.
