Indian Army successfully test fires Brahmos supersonic land attack missile

Indian Army has successfully test fired the Brahmos supersonic land attack cruise missile at Pokhran in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan.

• Test: It was conducted by Indian Army and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO). It was test fired from an Autonomous Mobile Launcher (AML) in full configuration and met all the mission objectives.

About Brahmos supersonic land attack missile

• It is a fire-and-forget Missile with capability of destroying surface-based targets by flying a combined high-low trajectory by evading enemy air defence systems.
• It has been designed and developed by a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOM) of Russia.
• The name Brahmos has been derived from the names of two rivers namely the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.
• Features: It has range of 300-km and a top supersonic speed of Mach 2.8. It can be launched from sea, sub-sea, land and air against sea and land targets.
• Capable of carrying a conventional as well as nuclear warhead of 300 kilogram. It is two-stage missile, first stage being propelled by solid propellant and second stage propelled by Ramjet liquid propellant.
• Induction: Indian Army already has inducted 3 regiments of Brahmos in its arsenal and land-attack version has been operationalised since 2007 in the Army.
• The powerful Brahmos weapon system has given Indian Army a distinct and strategic operational advantage to destroy any enemy target in the most difficult and hidden terrains.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2015