A ship-to-shore version of the supersonic Brahmos missile was successfully test-fired in the Andamans on Wednesday. The Defence Ministry announced that the missile with a range of more than 290 km was launched from the deck of the Russian acquired missile destroyer INS Rajput and precisely hit a land target in one of the islands.
INS Imphal is the first warship to have been named after a city from the northeast, said Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command.
India is the first country in the world to field a supersonic surface-to-surface cruise missile.
India on Wednesday successfully test fired the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Navy's latest guided missile frigate INS Tarkash off the coast of Goa.
It is the first warship to have been named after a city from the Northeastern region, the approval for which was accorded by the President in April 2019.
The trigger that led Japan and the Philippines to ink the deal was because of the deteriorating security situation in the South China Sea. China's coast guard increased the frequency and intensity of incursions into Philippine waters, provoking the Philippines to take countermeasures to deter China, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
With new added technologies, including the control system, the missile was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) launch pad-III at Chandipur around 10.45 am, said a source at the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Pakistan has rejected India's action over the March 9 accidental firing of a supersonic BrahMos missile that landed in its territory as "totally unsatisfactory, deficient and inadequate" and reiterated its demand for a joint probe into the incident.
The defence minister will also be on board the country's latest indigenous stealth frigate INS Shivalik and witness the live firing of lethal missiles including the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile, Defence Ministry officials said in New Delhi on Monday.
India is planning to deploy its 290km range supersonic BrahMos cruise missile on the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft being developed with Russia. "If we are able to reduce the weight of the missile below two tonnes, we can deploy it on the FGFA and we are looking to do that in future," BrahMos Aerospace chief A Sivathanu Pillai said.
After failing to hit its target in the previous test, a new version of the 290 km-range supersonic BrahMos cruise missile was on Wednesday successfully test launched at a firing range in Pokhran in Rajasthan.
The MoD did not reveal the number of missiles procured through the latest contract.
However, this information was inadvertently revealed through an official MoD photograph that accompanied the announcement.
Buoyed by the remarkable success of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles, India and Russia are now mulling the joint development of a futuristic 'smart' battle tank, featuring higher speed and better firepower. "We put forward this idea (of developing the tank) at the turn of the 21st century. The Indian side has now come up with a similar proposal," Nikolai Malykh, director general of Russia's biggest tank producer Uralvagonzavod, said.
For the second time in a month, the Block II version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile with a striking range of 290 km, successfully hit its target during a test at the Pokhran firing range on Sunday. After today's test, officials said the development phase of the Block II version of the missile was over and it was ready for induction in the Army. They said the mission objectives of the test had been completely fulfilled.
India is almost ready with its undersea launch version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile and wants the navy to help in preliminary test trials by the end of the year.
More than 100 BrahMos missiles are planned to be built in the next three years.
India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable sub-sonic cruise missile 'Nirbhay', which can strike targets more than 700 kms away, from a test range at Chandipur near Balasore in Odisha on Friday.
The 2.5 tonne air-to-surface missile has a range of around 300 km, and it will significantly enhance the IAF's combat capability, military officials said.
India on Friday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed sub-sonic long range cruise missile, 'Nirbhay' from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha.
The IAF can fire Brahmos missiles from several hundred kilometres away. The BrahMos flies supersonic, at speeds up to Mach 2.5, giving the enemy little time to react
'Today the Chinese think they can slap India, and there will be no consequences.' 'They must be made to feel the consequences through any and all means,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
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