India successfully tests supersonic cruise missile

Bhubaneswar, March 21 : India Sunday successfully test fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a vertical launcher fitted on board moving warship INS Ranvir off the east coast, defence sources said.

The missile performed supersonic manoeuvring following the exact flight path and homed in on to the decommissioned target ship INS Meen, the sources said.

"The mission met 100 percent success," Praveen Pathak, additional general manager of BrahMos Aerospace, told IANS over phone from New Delhi.

The missile, which has a range of 290 km and flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach, can take on a target lying anywhere in the 360 degree range of the ship. It was fired from INS Ranvir at 1130 hrs.

The BrahMos missiles jointly designed and developed by India and Russia are capable of carrying conventional warheads up to 200-300 kg.

The state-of-the-art universal vertical launcher from which the missile was test fired has been designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace.

The launcher is designed to be fitted under the warship's deck, thereby protecting it from atmospheric conditions and imparting stealth to the weapon system.

With the latest launch, BrahMos has once again proved its mettle to be launched from both vertical and inclined configurations from naval platforms, the official said.

The Indian Army has plans to induct three regiments of BrahMos in near future to use the missile as a "precision first strike weapon," he said.