BrahMos supersonic cruise missile test-fired successfully

Zee Media Bureau/Ritesh K Srivastava

Balasore: In a major boost to the country`s combat capabilities, the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired off the coast of Karwar on Monday. According to reports, seniothe supersonic cruise missile was test-fired in the presence of senior Army officials. Both the Army and Navy have already inducted the missile, developed in technical partnership with Russia. BrahMos is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine as its first stage which brings it to supersonic speed and then gets separated. The liquid ramjet or the second stage then takes the missile closer to 3 Mach speed in cruise phase. Stealth technology and guidance system with advanced embedded software provides the missile with special features. The missile has flight range of up to 290-km with supersonic speed all through the flight, leading to shorter flight time, consequently ensuring lower dispersion of targets, quicker engagement time and non-interception by any known weapon system in the world. It operates on ‘Fire and Forget Principle’, adopting varieties of flights on its way to the target. Its destructive power is enhanced due to large kinetic energy on impact. Its cruising altitude could be up to 15 km and terminal altitude is as low as 10 meters. It carries a conventional warhead weighing 200 to 300 kgs.