Advanced BrahMos successfully test-fired on hidden land targets

India successfully test fired an advanced version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on Tuesday from the Integrated Test Range Chandipur in Balasore, Odisha.
During the launch, the missile flew through the designated 290 kms distance at Mach 2.8 and achieved high precision with steep dive once again, BrahMos Aerospace said in a press note.
BrahMos Aerospace Chief Executive A Sivathanu Pillai said it was a “text book launch” achieving 100 percent results, executed from the Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL) prepared by the BRAHMOS 3rd regiment of Indian Army team.

The advanced guidance system, which integrated multiple navigation satellites, was powered with a new software algorithm, developed indigenously by Indian scientists and industries.
According to the press note, this was the 44th launch of BrahMos carried out with high level of reliability. About 205 Indian industries have come in a big way by significantly contributing their knowhow and expertise in realising the Indo-Russian weapon system, the company said.
The missile’s successful launch will give a boost to the ongoing programme of future installations of BrahMos system in the Indian Army against hidden land targets for mountain warfare operations, the company said.
The BrahMos missile, the fastest in the world, has a flight range of up to 290 km and carries a conventional warhead of 200 to 300 kg, thus delivering with high-precision, devastating power at supersonic speed. The missile can cruise at a maximum speed of 2.8 Mach.
India’s Army and Navy have already inducted the missile system. The launch of the air-version of BrahMos missile integrated with Su-30MKI will be carried out by the end of this year.

The Russo-Indian joint-venture enterprise BrahMos Aerospace was established in 1998 and was named honour of the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.
The overall value of BrahMos missile contracts with India’s Navy, Air Force and Army has reached $4.2 billion and may increase to $7.5 billion by 2015.
Work on a scaled-down version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is in the initial stage and the rocket may be phased into service in 2017. The weight of a prospective rocket will be 1.5 tons and its length will be about six metres. It will be designed for Su-30MKI and MiG-29 fighter planes. However, it will be also fit for other operational combat aircraft or those set to be adopted by the Air Force of India, including Rafale and Mirage-2000 aircraft.