DRDO successfully test fires sea-to-sea variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

The missile was test fired to its maximum range while verifying the accuracy of the combat system and armament complex of INS Visakhapatnam from which it was launched.

The sea-to-sea variant of BrahMos being tested from INS Visakhapatnam.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test-fired an advanced sea-to-sea variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The missile, launched from the Navy’s recently commissioned stealth guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam on January 11, apparently hit the designated target ship with pinpoint precision.

According to officials familiar with the launch, the sea-to-sea variant of BrahMos was test fired to its maximum range while verifying the accuracy of the ship’s combat system and armament complex. According to a Navy spokesperson, the launch of the missile from a floating platform validates a new capability and enhances the capabilities of the Navy. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while congratulating the scientists working on the BrahMos project, said that the successful launch was a reconfirmation of the robustness of the "Indian Navy’s mission readiness".

A joint collaboration between India and Russia, BrahMos is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface- and sea-based targets. The missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound and can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads of 300 kilogrammes. Although the supersonic cruise missile’s range had been capped at 298 km in tune with stipulations of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the DRDO, following India’s entry into the MTCR club in June 2016, recently extended and successfully test fired the missile to around 450 km (to be further extended to 600 km).

Last December the air version of BrahMos was test fired from the Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi 30 MK-I aircraft. Several Asian countries have shown a keen interest in BrahMos.