The Army and defence scientists are readying for a user associate launch of BrahMos cruise missile from a defence base off the Odisha coast. It has been scheduled to be test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea on July 28.
Defence sources said preparation for the trial is on at the launching complex-III of the ITR. On Tuesday, the Chief Executive Officer of BrahMos Aerospace, A Sivathanu Pillai, had urged a visiting Russian delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in New Delhi to induct the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos into its Navy.
BrahMos is a formidable weapon system with its unmatched speed, precision and devastating power. “It will be fired from a mobile autonomous launcher (MAL) which is an autonomous vehicle with its own communication, power supply and fire control system,” he said.
The test is aimed at making the Army well versed in the characteristics of the missile so that they can handle it properly at the time of crisis. The missile can be fired on three different targets or in a variety of other combinations near simultaneously. The land-based version is also equipped with inertial navigation system and global positioning system.
The 8.4-metre missile which can fly at Mach 2.8 is capable of carrying conventional warheads of up to 300 kg for a range of 290 km. It can effectively engage ground targets from an altitude of as low as 10 metres for surgical strikes at terror training camps across the border without causing collateral damage.