BrahMos Test Fired

Balasore: Brahmos, the supersonic cruise missile which is part of an Indo-Russian joint venture, was on Sunday successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, about 15 km from here, defence sources said. The missile was fired from a mobile launcher at 12.15pm amidst incessant rains caused by a deep depression in the sea along the Orissa coast, the sources said.The launching was undertaken following clearance by the meteorological department. Jointly developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russian organisation NPO Mashinostroyenia, the surface-to-surface version of the eight metre-long missile weighing three tonnes can hit a target at a distance of upto 290 km.
After proving its precision guidance capability during testfires conducted earlier, the surface-to-surface version of the Brahmos - the name is derived from Indias Brahmaputra river and Russias Moskova river - was test launched today to check its other parameters, the sources said. Basically an anti-ship missile which could be modified for operations in air and on land, Brahmos has a speed of 2.8 mach and can carry a conventional warhead weighing about 300 kg. A two-stage vehicle, its propulsion consists of a solid propellant booster and liquid propellant Ramjet system. Brahmos, incidentally, is the first and only supersonic cruise missile that uses liquid Ramjet technology. The first demonstration flight of Brahmos had taken place in a vertical configuration on June 12, 2001 from the ITR, they said.