Indian army tested successfully firing advanced version BrahMos supersonic cruise missile 1308111

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Defense News - India

 
 
Saturday, August 13, 2011, 08:44 PM
 
Indian army tested successfully firing of an advanced version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.
An advanced version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test fired by the Army at the Chandan area of Pokhran field firing range in Jaisalmer at 1035 hours on Friday, July 12, 2011, a source in the Indian Defense Ministry said.
     
An advanced version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test fired by the Army at the Chandan area of Pokhran field firing range in Jaisalmer at 1035 hours on Friday, July 12, 2011, a source in the Indian Defense Ministry said.
Indian Army Brahmos supersonic cruise missile
     

It was the 25th flight test of the advanced version of BrahMos the missile system. The missile was fired "at a supersonic speed in a steep-dive mode" from Chandan area of Pokhran field firing range and the target was put up at Ajasar, located 28km away.

"The missile hit the target bull's eye. The flawless performance with high success rate established BrahMos as a unique missile, breaking the records set by any other missile system in the world," an army source said.

Jointly developed by India and Russia, BrahMos can be launched from multiple platforms, including submarines, ships, aircraft and land-based Mobile Autonomous Launchers (MAL). The "fire-and-forget" missiles are stored, transported and launched from special mobile launchers and can be launched in both vertical and horizontal modes. The submarine and air launch versions of the missile are currently under development.

The ramjet propelled supersonic cruise missile flies at a top speed of Mach 2.8. It can carry conventional warheads up to 300 kg for a range of 290 km. It can effectively engage ground targets from an altitude as low as 10 metres.

One regiment of the 290-km range BrahMos-I variant, which consists of 67 missiles, five MALs on 12x12 Tatra vehicles and two mobile command posts, among other equipment, is already operational in the Army, which is also in the process of inducting two more regiments of BrahMos Block-II land attack cruise missiles (LACM). The LACM has been designed as "precision strike weapons" capable of hitting small targets in cluttered urban environments.

The BRAHMOS missile is a two-stage vehicle that has a solid propellant booster and a liquid propellant ram-jet system.

Sources said the cruise missiles fly at low altitudes and have the ability to evade enemy radars and air defence systems. They are also easier and cheaper to operate.

The test fire at Pokhran has been conducted "to fulfil the needs of the Army", the sources said adding that the land attack version block 2 is fitted with "advance seeker software and has the capacity of discriminating the target. The missile will provide an enhanced capability to the Army for selection of particular land target among a group of targets".

The first flight test of the BrahMos missile was conducted on June 12, 2001 at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off the Orissa coast.