India on Sunday successfully testfired supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea in Balasore district, nearly 250 km from here.
The flight test was carried out at 11.35 am with the missile being launched from LC-III. “The results were excellent and the modified version of the missile was tested for full range. It met all the mission objectives,” ITR director, Mr S.P. Dash, informed reporters after the launching.
The 290-km range BrahMos is capably of carrying conventional warheads weighing 300 kg. The two-stage nine-metre-long missile has a diameter of 70 cm and weighs 3.9 tonnes with the canister.
The test was carried out by the Army personnel of the Special Artillery Regiment with assistance from the defence research and development organisation (DRDO) scientists. A large crowd also turned up to witness the testfire.
Soon after it was fired from the launch pad, the missile performed a steep dive at a supersonic speed. “Soon after BrahMos left the launchpad, it reached a flat trajectory with supersonic speed. It then suddenly dived vertically with its engine running in full throttle and performed the manoeuvre when it was flying at a velocity of three times the speed of sound,” sources said.
According to experts, normally, a missile comes down gradually.
However, Sunday’s test proved the new capability of BrahMos, a product of the Indo-Russian collaboration. Director General of artillery unit Lt. General Vinod Nayanar and Chief Coordinator (R&D) and the CEO and managing director of BrahMos Aerospace, Mr A.S. Pillai, additional DG of artillery, Maj. Gen. P.K. Chakravarty and several other key officials were present during the test-firing, informed sources.
It may be mentioned here that the first battery of the BrahMos land-attack cruise missile (LACM) was inducted into Indian Armed Forces in July 2007.