India test fires BrahMos cruise missile

India on Thursday successfully test-fired the 290-km range BrahMos cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off the Orissa coast.

The supersonic cruise missile with precision strike capability was test-fired from a mobile launcher at 1100 hours from the launch pad No. 3 of the ITR.

The missile can fly at 2.8 times the speed of sound, and can carry conventional warheads up to 300 kg for 290 km.

It can effectively engage ground targets with conventional warhead from an altitude as low as 10 meters.

The missile was demonstrated to the Army in September 5 with steep-dive mode.

The BrahMos missile is a two-stage vehicle that has a solid propellant booster and a liquid propellant ram-jet system.

BrahMos is capable of being launched from multiple platforms like submarine, ship, aircraft and land based Mobile Autonomous Launchers (MAL).

The first flight test of the BrahMos was conducted on June 12, 2001 at the ITR at Chandipur in Orissa coast and the last trial of the naval version of BRAHMOS was carried out in a vertical mode successfully on March 21, 2010 from Indian navy ship INS Ranvir off Orissa coast.