India test-fires advanced version of BRAHMOS missile

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday successfully test-fired a naval variant of advanced supersonic BRAHMOS cruise missile from a stealth guided-missile destroyer of the Indian Navy.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said the missile hit the designated target "precisely".

It is learnt the missile has an extended range of 350 to 400 km as against the original range of 290 km.

"Advanced sea to sea variant of BRAHMOS Supersonic Cruise missile was tested from INS Visakhapatnam today. Missile hit the designated target ship precisely," the DRDO tweeted.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the successful launch of the missile reconfirmed the robustness of the Indian Navy's "mission readiness".

"The robustness of Indian Navy mission readiness is reconfirmed today after successful launch of the advanced version of BrahMos Missile from INS Vishakhapatnam today. I congratulate the wonderful teamwork of Indian Navy, DRDO and BRAHMOS Missile," Singh tweeted.

BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms.

BRAHMOS missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.

India has already deployed a sizable number of the original BRAHMOS missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations.