India Test Fires BrahMos Land Attack Variant
India on Wednesday successfully test fired the 290 km range supersonic BrahMos cruise missile at a testing range in Pokhran, Rajasthan. A technical snag that saw the missile miss its target during an earlier test has now been rectified.
“The Block II BrahMos missile was successfully launched at 1030 hours this morning,” said officials of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), who have developed the weapon system in collaboration with Russian scientists.
The missile “took two-and-a half-minutes to strike its target in the Pokhran firing range in Rajasthan,” they were quoted as saying by PTI.
The test launch was witnessed by Deputy Army Chief (Planning and Systems) Lt Gen M S Dadwal and a host of other officials and technical experts.
The land attack version of the missile has been developed for the Army and the weapon was fired in a vertical-launch configuration, informed the officials.
The earlier test of the Indo-Russian joint venture missile was carried out on January 20 when after a successful take off, it deviated from its course mid-way and failed to hit its intended target.
Officials say a “defect” in the software of the homing device of the missile had been rectified leading to its successful test.
