India has successfully test fired a BrahMos surface-to-surface missile at Pokhran in the Rajasthan desert northwest of the country.
"Today land attack version of BrahMos Block-II was tested from a mobile autonomous launcher at Pokhran test range by the Indian Army," the Indian army's military's research wing said in a Sunday statement. "The missile took off successfully and hit the desired target at bull's eye, meeting all mission parameters," the statement added.
New Delhi's test-launch was part of the test of a missile system which India is developing in collaboration with Russia. The surface-to-surface missile had failed to hit its target during an earlier test on January 20 due to what the Indian army described as a 'defect' in the missile's homing device software. It hit the target during a second test on March 4.
The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 km (180 miles) and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg (660 lbs). Experts estimate that India could purchase up to 1,000 BrahMos missiles for its armed forces over the next ten years. |
