NEW2 DELHI, 23 April 2007 — India successfully tested the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, jointly developed with Russia, from a range in eastern Orissa state yesterday, sources said.
“Sunday’s test was just routine. A user trial,” a defense official said. The missile was last successfully tested on Feb. 4.
The missile was fired from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea, 200 km northeast of Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar, sources said.
The BrahMos, developed under an Indo-Russian joint venture program initiated in 1998, has so far undergone 13 successful tests. First tested in June 2001, the missile named after India’s Brahmaputra River and Russia’s Moskva River has a range of 290 km and can carry a 300-kg conventional warhead.
The missile is being jointly produced by India’s defense Research and Development Organization and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia.
The eight-meter missile weighs about three metric tons and can be launched from land, ships, submarines or aircraft, traveling at a speed of up to Mach 2.8.
Yesterday’s test came just 10 days after India successfully tested the Agni-III, an intermediate-range missile that for the first time gives New Delhi a device capable of hitting targets inside China, including capital Beijing.
The Indian Army is set to start deploying the missile this year, the CEO of its manufacturer BrahMos Aerospace A. Sivathanu Pillai said last month. A version of the BrahMos is already used by the Indian navy.
Defense sources said India and Russia are now working toward developing a hypersonic missile, a more advanced version of the BrahMos.
