India successfully test fires sea-to-sea variant of BrahMos Cruise Missile

January 12, 2022 at 3:47 PM

The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday successfully test-fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise. The missile was launched from the Indian Navy destroyer INS Vishakhapatnam off the Western coast.

The sea to sea variant of the missile was testfired at the maximum range and hit the target ship with pinpoint accuracy. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the successful launch of the missile reconfirmed the robustness of the Indian Navy’s “mission readiness”.

“The robustness of @indiannavy mission readiness is reconfirmed today after a successful launch of the advanced version of BrahMos Missile from INS Vishakhapatnam today. I congratulate the wonderful teamwork of @indiannavy @DRDO_India & @BrahMosMissile,” Singh tweeted.

The supersonic cruise missile is part of the BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture. It can be from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms.

The BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.

India, in November 2020, tested a land-attack version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is the world’s fastest operational system in its class. Recently the DRDO had extended the range of the missile system from the existing 298 km to around 450 km.

Meanwhile, in December last year, the air version of the BrahMos missile was tested when it was fired by supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I. The test was carried out from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha. the successful test-fire from the fighter jet was a major milestone as it cleared the stage for the serial production of the air version of the BrahMos missiles within the country.

BrahMos is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kilograms (both conventional as well as nuclear) and has a top supersonic speed of Mach 2.8 to 3 (roughly three times the speed of sound). The missile is highly versatile and its unmatched speed, precision and power makes it the ultimate modern weapon. Developers say that the missile has a strike accuracy rate of 99.99 per cent. (India Today)