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HomeDefenceBy sea, by air and by land: Here is what makes Brahmos...

By sea, by air and by land: Here is what makes Brahmos India’s finest strike weapon

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The missile has now been successfully test fired by all of India’s defence forces and is difficult to intercept.

Brahmos, the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile, was successfully launched Wednesday for the first time from the Indian Air Force’s frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal.

The successful test by the Air Force was the final test, which now means the missile can be fired from land, sea, or air.

The Brahmos has been jointly developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s NPOM. It’s name comes from rivers in the two countries, the Brahmaputra (India) and Moskva (Russia).

Difficult to intercept

Weighing 2.5 tons, the Brahmos is the heaviest weapon in its category to display such speed, precision accuracy, and damage capabilities, and gives India’s defence forces the ability strike at targets upto 290 km away.

The range of the missile, an Indo-Russia joint venture, can be extended up to 400 km as certain technical restrictions were lifted after India became a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) last year.

With a maximum speed of 2.8 Mach (2.8 times the speed of sound), the Brahmos missile is exceptionally difficult to intercept by surface-to-air missiles currently deployed from warships across the world.

Tried and tested 

The Brahmos has previously been successfully tested by the Indian Army from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur at sea in Balasore  on 11 March 2017. It was also tested in a land-to-land configuration in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in May 2017.

Army successfully carried out the firing of the advanced BRAHMOS Block III land attack cruise missile system in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands on the 3 May 2017. | Photos from PIB (defence wing)

The Indian Navy completed the maiden firing of Brahmos Land Attack Supersonic Cruise Missile (LACM) from the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Teg in April 2017.

The missile system met its mission parameters, striking the on-land target with high accuracy and consistency over the trials. A majority of Indian Navy frontline ships are now capable of firing this missile.

YouTube screengrab of the Bhrahmos LACm firing from the INS Teg.

 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Come on, this article is informative but is meant for eyeballs on viral social media channels.
    I expect better reporting from the Print. Out of so many issues you’re talking about how fine a weapon is?
    I was in the army and though we swore an oath to defend the country, we never went around praising weapons designed to kill other people.

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