Brahmos: India test-fires a cruise missile

India on Sunday successfully test fired a supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos, as part of a user trial by the army from a test range at Chandipur off the coast of Orissa. The missile has a flight range of up to 290km and is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 300 kgs. “The cruise missile was test fired from a ground mobile launcher from the launch complex-3 at about 10:30 hours and the data is being retrieved for analysis,” defense sources said. The two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one, a ramjet liquid propellant, has already been inducted into the Army and Navy, and the Air-Force version is in final stages of a trial, according to Indian defense officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2012.