India: BrahMos cruise missile test-fired with indigenous seeker.

On 22 March, the BrahMos, claimed by its Indian Manufacturer to be the world's fastest anti-ship cruise missile, was successfully test fired with an indigenous seeker at a Pokhran test range in Rajasthan. This marks a big achievement and breakthrough for the supersonic missile.

A BrahMos has been successfully test-fired with an Indian seeker (Picture source: Brahmand.com)

Giving a big boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, the country has developed a seeker for a missile of this class. The BrahMos weapon system has been jointly developed by India and Russia and is said to be one of the best precision-strike weapons in the world. The BrahMos missile that was test fired on 22 March “flew in its designated trajectory and hit the target with pin-point accuracy”, government sources said.

The indigenous seeker has been developed with the joint effort of BrahMos Aerospace MD and CEO Sudhir Mishra and DRDO Secretary Dr S Christopher.

BrahMos missile’s successful test comes within months of the weapon system being test-fired for the first time from a Sukhoi-30 MKI, which was a first for the world since no missile as heavy as the BrahMos had ever been fitted on a frontline fighter jet.

Meanwhile, with India becoming a part of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), it has now been able to extend the range of the BrahMos missile from 300km to around 450km. BrahMos Aerospace, the joint venture between India and Russia, is already working to extend the missile range from 450 km to 800 km – something that will give India unprecedented fire power against both China and Pakistan, as claimed by India.

The BrahMos missile derives its name from two rivers – Brahmaputra in India, and Moskva in Russia. The BrahMos missile can be fired from land, ships, submarines and fighter jets. It is claimed to have one of the best test success rates in the world. BrahMos is a two-stage missile which can attain a cruise speed of 2.8 Mach. The missile can carry a conventional warhead of almost 300 kg. On sea, it can be launched both in the vertical and the inclined configurations. The BrahMos missle has also generated a lot of export interest from various countries including Vietnam, Chile.