Indian Army successfully test-fires BrahMos land-attack missile

Just days after the Indian Navy successfully test-fired land attack version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, the Indian Army today successfully test-fired an advanced version of the BrahMos land-attack cruise missile in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Also Read: Indian Navy successfully test-fires BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

Land attack variant of Brahmos missile provides Indian naval ships with the capability to precisely neutralise selected targets deep inland and far away from coast, from stand-off ranges at sea.

The BrahMos missile has been jointly developed by India and Russia, and its anti-ship variant has already been inducted into the Indian Navy.

The land-to-land configuration of BrahMos missile was launched from a mobile autonomous launcher (MAL).

The test-firing of the missile demonstrated the weapon's unmatched lethality of hitting the centre of a designated target with "bull's eye" precision, a senior army officer said.

He said the supersonic cruise missile successfully hit the land-based target with desired precision in a "top attack configuration", meeting all flight parameters in a copybook manner.

The test-firing involved high level and complex manoeuvring by the missile. 

Brahmos is a result of a joint venture set up in 1998 between  Defense Research and Development Organization of India and the Russian company Mashinostroyeniye. It is classified as a cruise missile because it travels for the most part of its flight at a constant speed. Cruise missiles fly low on the ground, avoiding detection by radar.

It is supersonic, meaning that it travels at a speed greater than sound at Mach 2-3, or a kilometre a second.

(WION with PTI inputs)