India test-fires BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

Panaji: The Indian Navy on Sunday morning successfully test-fired the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 300 kg, from a warship off the Goa coast. "The cruise missile was test-fired from guided missile frigate INS Teg--the Indian Navy's latest induction from Russia off the coast of Goa early morning," sources said.

They said the missile performing high-level manoeuvres successfully hit the target ship which was still on fire. The INS Teg, which has been built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia, had fired the missile successfully during pre-induction trials in Russia in 2011.

The two remaining warships of the project namely INS Tarkah and INS Trikand will also be armed with the lethal missile in vertical launch mode. The two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant, has already been inducted into the Army and Navy, and the Air Force version is in final stage of trial, a defence official said.

Brahmos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture firm, is also working to develop the air as well as the submarine launch version.

While induction of the first version of Brahmos missile system in the Indian Navy commenced from 2005 with INS Rajput, it is now fully operational with two regiments of the Army. The air launch version and the submarine launch version of the missile system are in progress, he said.

The Army has so far placed orders for the Brahmos missile to be deployed by three regiments of the Army and two of them have already been inducted operationally. The Defence Ministry has also given a go-ahead to Army to induct a third regiment equipped with the missile system to be deployed in Arunachal Pradesh.

Brahmos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture company, is also working to develop the air as well as the submarine launch version of the missile system and work on the project is in progress.

With Additional Inputs from PTI

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