India successfully launches land-attack version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

India on Wednesday conducted two more “live operational firings” of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, amidst the continuing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh.

The land-attack variant of the “deep-strike precision missile” hit the target on an island almost 300-km away with pinpoint precision in the tests conducted by the Army at 1.30 pm and then by the IAF at 4pm.

The firings are part of the continuing tests of the air-breathing missile, whose range is now being enhanced to almost 450-km from the existing 290-km. Flying at almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8, the BrahMos missile is considered to be the best in its class in the world.

“The first test from a mobile autonomous launcher was conducted on Tuesday. Both the tests on Wednesday followed different trajectories to hit the target from different directions, with the Army firing the missile in full-combat mode. A naval warship will also fire the anti-ship version of the missile in the next few days,” said an official.

The enhanced version of BrahMos with a strike range of almost 450-km, which has been successfully tested three to four times, is on course to be made operational soon. There are also plans underway for India and Russia to test an even longer version of BrahMos, with 800-km range, by middle of next year, as was earlier reported.

The armed forces have inducted the missile in huge numbers over the years, with contracts worth over Rs 36,000 crore already inked till now. BrahMos missile batteries have also been deployed in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh as part of the operational readiness posture against China.

Similarly, some Sukhoi-30MKI fighters armed with BrahMos missiles are also deployed in airbases closer to the Line of Actual Control. With a combat radius of almost 1,500-km without mid-air refuelling, the Sukhois with BrahMos missiles constitute a formidable long-range weapons package.