India successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

India on 8 July 2014 successfully test-fired an advanced version of the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from Chandipur-on-Sea off Odisha coast. It was test-fired from a mobile launcher from launch complex number three of the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Balasore.

BrahMos has been inducted into the Army and Navy, while, the Air Force is in final stages of trial. The induction of the first version of BrahMos Weapon Complex (N1) in the Indian Navy commenced from 2005 with the missile being deployed on-board warship INS Rajput (the first ship with the missile).

The Indian Army also received the first regiment of BrahMos missile, Block I (A1), with the formation of N816 missile regiments and commencement of deliveries from 2007.

At present, to develop an air as well as the submarine–launched version of the missile system, work is going on by an Indo-Russian joint version company, BrahMos Aerospace.

About the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile
• BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 300 kilogram and operates on ‘Fire and Forget Principle’, adopting varieties of flights on its way to the target
• BrahMos is the first supersonic cruise missile known to be in service
• BrahMos with a top speed of Mach 2.8 is about three times faster than the US subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile
• It can be launched from ships, aircrafts and submarines
• It is a two-stage missile with Solid propellant in the first stage and Ramjet liquid propellant in the second stage
• Name BrahMos has been formed from the names of two rivers, namely the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia