Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was successfully flight-tested from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Orissa, on Wednesday.
The missile rose from a Tatra truck on the sea-side launch station and sped over the Bay of Bengal at 2.8 times the speed of sound (2.8 Mach) and covered its entire range of 290 km.
It used “an advanced guidance algorithm to perform a steep dive during the terminal phase of its flight and accurately plunged over the targeted area in the Bay of Bengal,” said A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited.
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It performed the dive at supersonic speed. Telemetry received from two ships stationed near the impact point confirmed the missile's steep dive. “It was a successful mission. It achieved 100 per cent results,” Dr. Pillai said from Chandipur.
This was the 29 test-flight of BrahMos, which had been deployed in two regiments of the Army. The missile has also been inducted into the Navy.
Project Director of BrahMos S. Som, Executive Director of BrahMos Aerospace Rear Admiral (retd.) S. Mohapatra and senior officers from the armed forces witnessed the launch.
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The missile was integrated at the BrahMos Integration Complex in Hyderabad.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony congratulated the BrahMos and the Army teams on the successful flight.
Although BrahMos is essentially an anti-ship missile, it can be launched from land to land, sea to land and from land to sea. Steps are on to launch BrahMos from Sukhoi-MKI aircraft and a submarine.
“But the Navy is yet to identify a platform [submarine] for launching it under the sea,” informed sources said.