Bhubaneswar: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Monday successfully test fired land attack version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. According to a tweet by ANI, the missile was test-fired off the Odisha coast. On Saturday, DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy said the country must focus on more indigenous defence production to reduce import in the sector and should become self-reliant in technology. Reddy added saying that the indigenous produce in defence manufacturing is currently about 45-50 per cent only.

BrahMos missile is a major force multiplier on the battlefield with impeccable multi-role and multi-platform launch capabilities. In August, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had approved the acquisition of two BrahMos supersonic cruise missile coastal batteries for the Indian Navy. Singh also cleared procurement of Made in India Software Defined Radios (SDR) for the armed forces. It was Singh’s first Defence Acquisition Council’s (DAC) meeting. BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile Test Fired From Odisha’s Chandipur.

In June, a supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha. Described as the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile with high rate of precision and accuracy, BrahMos can be fired from land, sea and air, defence sources said.

In May this year, a BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired by the Indian Army from Car Nicobar Islands. On May 22, the Indian Air Force had also successfully tested the air-launched version of the missile from a Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft. The weapon was test fired on a specially designed target chosen at a range of 270 km, “thus validating deep penetration capability by the supersonic cruise missile and accurate engagement of targets in depth,” an Army statement said.

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