India test fires supersonic land attack cruise missile
300km range Brahmos tested in Pokhran area of Rajasthan
NEW DELHI – The Indian Army test fired the nearly 300km range Brahmos supersonic land attack cruise missile in Pokhran, the Press Trust of India news service reported on Saturday.
“Indian Army fired Brahmos land attack cruise missile ‘successfully’ against a designated target at Pokhran test range in Rajasthan, demonstrating the weapon’s supreme operational capability,” the news agency quoted unidentified ‘defence’ officials as saying.
The missile was launched by a Mobile Autonomous Launcher deployed in full configuration. The test-fire, carried out in the user-deployment configuration by the army personnel, met all the mission objectives, it said. BrahMos Aerospace chief Sudhir Mihra said that this missile system was the most lethal and potent weapon system for precision strike available with the Indian Army.
The land attack version of Brahmos has been operationalised in the Indian Army since 2007. The fire-and-forget missile has the capability to take on surface-based targets by flying a combined high-low trajectory, thus evading enemy air defence systems. The Brahmos is a joint venture between India and Russia.
In his recent interview, Pakistan’s nuclear scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand stated that there was no comparison between missile programmes of Pakistan and India. Having achieved all its technical targets, Pakistan’s cruise missile now ranks among the best cruise missiles, he said. He also said that Indian surface-to-surface cruise missile was still in the process of being born.
