India successfully test fired the surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile BrahMos on November 24, 2020. The missile was test fired as part of a series of planned trials of the weapon that are known for its precision strike capabilities.
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About the Land Attack version of BrahMos
- The new land-attack version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has a range of 400 km.
- It has been extended from the original range of 290 km.
- The speed of the new version has been kept as earlier at 2.8 Mach. It is almost three times the speed of sound.
- The missile was test-fired in the Andaman and Nicobar.
What are the other scheduled launch?
The Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy have scheduled to carry out a separate test-firing of new version of the air-launched and naval versions of the supersonic cruise missile.
About Brahmos missile
The BrahMos missile was a joint venture of Russia and DRDO. The missile can be launched from ships, submarines and aircraft. It can also be launched from land platforms. The missile has been developed on the basis of Russian P-800 Oniks Cruise missile. Brahmos missile has been named after river Brahmaputra of India and Moskva of Russia. The missile has a record of being the fastest anti-ship cruise missile in the world.
Brahmos-II
India is currently involved in development of the Brahmos-II. It has a prescribed speed of 7-8 Mach.
India’s recent missile launches
The Indian Navy recently launched a missile through INS Prabal. They also test fired an anti-ship missile from INS Kora in Bay of Bengal. India recently launched the first Varunastra torpedo. It also test fired an anti-radiation missile named Rudram-1. Rudram-1 will be inducted into service by 2022.