Indian Air Force successfully test fires Brahmos missile at Pokaran

The Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test-fired a land-attack version of the supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos at the Pokaran field firing range in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
Test: During the flight trial, the missile met its mission goals and destroyed a designated target.
Two squadrons of IAF already have been equipped with the land-attack version of the missile version (One squadron has about 70 to 80 missiles). IAF is deploying this version of the missile in the border areas to take out the enemy’s communication towers, runways, and radar in case of a conflict.

About Brahmos missile

• BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has been designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia.
• It has derived its name from the names of two rivers, India’s Brahmaputra River and Russia’s Moskva River.
• It operates on fire and forget principal and is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against sea and land targets.
• Features: It is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kilogram and has top supersonic speed of Mach 3 (that is, three times the speed of sound).
• It can strike a target at maximum range of 290-km. It is two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant.
• BrahMos missile already has been inducted into the Indian Army and Navy.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2016