India successfully test-fires supersonic BrahMos missile off Odisha coast

BrahMos missile is a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia.

India successfully test-fired supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a base in Odisha's Chandipur on Tuesday (December 17), Defence sources said. The land-attack version of BrahMos missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher at Launch Complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) and the surface-to-surface missile succeeded in hitting the given target.

BrahMos is the fastest supersonic cruise missile and it can be launched from submarines, ships, fighter jets or land. The missile is a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia.

Indian Air Force (IAF) said that Tuesday's test-firing was the third such live launch of the weapon and with this launch the integration of the missile on Su-30MKI aircraft is complete.

On October 21 and 22, 2019, IAF had test-fired two BrahMos surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missiles as part of routine operational training. The missiles were fired from Trak Island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

Both the missiles had directly hit the designated mock targets close to 300 kilometres away, validating the different parameters of the weapon system. The IAF had said at that time that the test-firing of BrahMos has enhanced the air force's capability to engage grounds targets with pinpoint accuracy from a mobile platform.

Notably, BrahMos missiles have already been integrated by the OAF on its frontline fighter Sukhoi-Su-30MKIs with 42 jets being reconfigured to carry the lethal arsenal. BrahMos-A, the air-launched version of the supersonic cruise missile, will give the IAF another potent weapon to hit the enemy from standoff range during day as well as night and in all weather conditions. The 42 Su-30MKIs will be ready to carry BrahMos-A in less than three years.