India Test-Fires Brahmos Supersonic Missile

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday test fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile,one of the most successful products of India-Russia military joint venture, from a vertical platform in the Bay of Bengal.

"The BrahMos Missile has been successfully launched today (Thursday) from a naval warship in the Bay of Bengal. This unique launch has been carried out from a mobile platform and all mission objectives have been met," a DRDO official said.

This is for the first time that BrahMos has been test fired from a universal vertical launcher fitted in a new ship. All earlier launches of BrahMos missiles had been carried out from inclined launchers."It is a significant milestone in view of the fact that most present day ships are today fitted with vertical launchers," the official said.

The missile has a range of nearly 300 km and carries a conventional warhead of 300 kg. It can achieve speeds of up to 2.8 Mach or nearly three times the speed of sound.The supersonic missile takes its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers and can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.