India yesterday successfully test-fired a BrahMos missile with an extended range of 450km, and officials called it a “text book launch”.
The enhanced version of the supersonic cruise missile was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range off the Odisha coast at 11.30am, a statement said.
“In a historical first, the formidable missile system once again proved its mettle to precisely hit enemy targets at a much higher range than the current range of 290km, with supersonic speed of 2.8 Mach,” said the statement from BrahMos Aerospace.
During the launch, the land-attack version of the supersonic cruise missile system met its mission parameters fully, the officials said.
“It was a textbook launch achieving 100% results, executed with high precision from the Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL) deployed in full configuration,” the statement said.
“With the successful test firing of BrahMos Extended Range missile - BrahMos-ER, the Indian armed forces will be empowered to knock down enemy targets far beyond 400km. BrahMos has thus proved its prowess once again as the best supersonic cruise missile system in the world,” BrahMos Aerospace CEO Sudhir Mishra said from the launch site.
An announcement on extending the range of the cruise missile, a joint venture of Indias’ Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPOM, was first made by DRDO chief S Christopher on February 14.
The range of the BrahMos missile was 290km - even as it was capable of going beyond it - due to India not being part of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an informal and voluntary global partnership to prevent proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying over 500kg payload for more than 300km.
India joined the MTCR in June 2016, making extension of the missile’s range possible.