March 5, 2008 BrahMos Cruise
Missile Test Fired
for 15th Time
New Delhi
The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that India and Russia have
jointly developed was successfully launched for the 15th time
Wednesday - and for the first time from a naval ship toward a land
based target, a defence ministry official said.
Fired from the frontline Indian Navy warship INS Rajput, the missile
successfully impacted on its target in the Andaman & Nicobar Island
chain, the official added.
"The missile met all the parameters during its launch, flight and
selection of the designated target from among a group of targets and
hit precisely, destroying the target," the official said.
"This mission was very important as it has established the
sea-to-land attack capability of the missile," he added.
Scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO), who have been involved in the joint development of the
missile with their Russian counterparts, conducted the launch with
the support of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) that deployed
10 ships, three aircraft and three helicopters for logistics
support.
A. Sivathanu Pilla, CEO and managing director of missile builder
BrahMos Aerospace, Rear Admiral P.K. Nair, the officiating head of
the ANC, were among those who witnessed the launch.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony congratulated the DRDO scientists and
the Indian Navy for the successful missile launch.
The DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia have jointly developed
the BrahMos, which is named after the Bramaputra and the Moskova,
the two major rivers of India and Russia respectively.
Work on the project began in 1998 and the missile was first test
fired on Dec 22, 2004. BrahMos is a two-stage missile with a solid
propellant booster and a liquid propellant ram jet system that gives
it a 300-km range.
The Indian Army is currently preparing to operationalise at least
one regiment of the BrahMos missile mounted on a mobile launcher.
The triple-barrelled launcher is capable of firing the missile
singly or in salvos of two or three.
Work is also progressing on an Indian Air Force version that will be
delivered from the Sukhoi SU-30MKI platform.
Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer
No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
