Brahmos Missile Test: A Sukhoi-30 MKI air superiority fighter of Indian Air Force Friday flew over 4,000 kilometers in an over four hour long journey, which also involved mid-air refueling, to sink a ship in the Bay of Bengal in a successful test-firing of air launched version of Brahmos supersonic cruise missile.
A Su-30 MKI fighter flew from an air base in Halwara, in north-western state of Punjab and flew for over 4,000 kilometers to test-fire a Brahmos missile in Bay of Bengal, an official told news agency ANI.
It is one of the longest such missions of the fighter as it remained airborne from around 9 am in the morning to 1.30 in the noon (IST) to carry out its mission successfully.
Brahmos missile, a joint development of India and Russia, hit a sinking ship with deadly accuracy and the test-firing produced desired results, sources said.
In a major success of operationalization of air version of Brahmos missile, the Indian Air Force for the first time had successfully test-fired the missile from a Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft in May, 2019.
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The BrahMos missile provides the IAF the capability to strike from large stand-off ranges on any target. Brahmos is an all weather, day and night capable missile that can strike a target with pin point accuracy.
The IAF is also integrating the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on over 40 Sukhoi fighter jets which is aimed at bolstering overall combat capability of the force.
Indian supersonic cruise missile Brahmos being test fired. (File Photo).
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Recent tests of Brahmos Missile
On October 18, India also fired a naval version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from an indigenously-built stealth destroyer of the Indian Navy in the Arabian sea.
The missile was fired from INS Chennai and it hit the target with pin-point accuracy after performing an extremely complex manoeuvre, according to officials.
BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.
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On September 30, India successfully test-fired a new version of the surface-to-surface version of the BrahMos.
The range of the new land attack version of the missile has been extended to 400 km from the original 290 km.
India has already deployed a sizable number of the original BrahMos missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations along the line of actual control (LAC) with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
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DRDO’s Nag anti-tank missile cleared final user trial recently.
India test-fires Brahmos, Rudram, Shaurya, Nag missiles
In the last two months, India has test-fired a number of missiles including a new version of the surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile BrahMos and an anti-radiation missile named Rudram-1, and also conducted a test of its hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle.
The successful test firing of Rudram-1 was seen as a major milestone as it is India”s first indigenously developed anti-radiation weapon. Rudram is expected to enter the service next year.
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India also carried out successful test-firing of a laser-guided anti-tank guided missile and nuclear-capable hypersonic missile ‘Shaurya’ and its indigenously designed and developed third generation Nag anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) recently.
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