BrahMos test-fired from new warship

India’s supersonic cruise missile BrahMos demonstrated its prowess yet again when it was test-fired on Sunday from the country's newest stealth-destroyer INS Kochi off the west coast.

Launch of BrahMos was part of an acceptance testing-firing during a Naval drill being conducted on the west coast.

A press release said the missile, after performing high-level and complex manoeuvres, hit a decommissioned target ship “Alleppey” which was stationed 290 km away, the missile’s full range.

The press release quoted Sudhir Mishra, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, as saying that the firing had validated the newly commissioned

INS Kochi ’s systems. BrahMos would ensure the warship’s capability by engaging targets at long ranges on the sea, “thus making the destroyer another lethal platform of the Indian Navy,” Mr. Mishra said.

The 7,500-tonne indigenously developed warship has new design concepts for survivability, stealth and manoeuvrability. It can carry 16 BrahMos missiles in two eight-cell vertical launch systems besides other modern weapons and sensors. The two-stage BrahMos can fly at a supersonic speed of 2.8 Mach and at a height of ten metres during the final stages of its flight. It carries conventional warheads. This was the 49th trial. It can be launched from ships, land and submarines.

Informed sources said a trial-firing of BrahMos from the fighter-aircraft Sukhoi-MKI 30 would take place in the first quarter of 2016.