Brahmos successfully test-fired

Brahmos, the supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia, was successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 15km from Balasore, on Sunday, defence sources said.

The missile was fired from a mobile launcher at 12:10pm amidst heavy rains caused by a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal, which crossed the Orissa coast around the same time.

"The mission fully met all the flight objectives and the networked Integrated Test Range instrumentation at Chandipur and Dhamra accomplished the requirements," an ITR release said.

Also Read Earlier test in November 2003

This is the seventh successful flight of the missile and its launch in rough weather conditions demonstrated its ruggedness in operating in all weather conditions.

Army officers and personnel headed by Director General of Artillery Lt Gen R S Nagar, senior scientists, technicians and DRDO staff witnessed the test.

Jointly developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russian outfit NPO Mashinostroyenia, the 8m-long missile weighing 3tonnes can hit a target at a distance of up to 290km.

A two-stage vehicle, its propulsion consists of a solid propellant booster and liquid propellant ramjet system. It is the first and only supersonic cruise missile that uses liquid Ramjet Technology.

The anti-ship missile, which could be modified for operations in air and on land, has a top speed of 2.8 Mach and can carry a convention warhead weighing about 300kg.

The first demonstration flight of Brahmos had taken place in a vertical configuration on June 12, 2001 from the ITR.

After proving its precision guidance capability during earlier tests, the surface-to-surface version of the Brahmos - the name is derived from India's Brahmaputra River and Russia's Moskova River - was tested on Sunday to check certain specific parameters.