IAF test fires BrahMos missile from Su-30 MKI with ‘pinpoint accuracy’ on a naval target

The successful firing of the BrahMos missile in close coordination with the Navy is yet another demonstration of the IAF’s operational preparedness. According to an IAF spokesperson, the missile successfully hit the target, a decommissioned naval vessel, with "pinpoint accuracy and precision".

The BrahMos missile test fired from a Su-30 MKI fighter jet. A file photograph.

The Indian Air Force, in coordination with the Indian Navy, successfully conducted a ‘live firing’ of the BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi (Su)-30 MKI fighter aircraft on April 19.

The live firing was undertaken off the east coast and, according to an IAF spokesperson, the missile successfully hit the target, a decommissioned naval vessel, with "pinpoint accuracy and precision".

Flying at a speed of 2.8 Mach, or almost three times the speed of sound, the successful firing of the BrahMos missile in close coordination with the Navy is yet another demonstration of the IAF’s operational preparedness.

Tweeted the IAF: "Today on the Eastern seaboard, #IAF undertook live firing of #BrahMos missile from a Su30 MkI aircraft. The missile achieved a direct hit on the target, a decommissioned #IndianNavy ship. The mission was undertaken in close coordination with @indiannavy."

In 2016 the government decided to integrate the BrahMos missile into over 40 Sukhoi fighter jets. The first air launch of the missile was successfully carried out from a Su-30 MKI in 2017. On March 5, 2022, the Navy successfully launched an extended range, land attack BrahMos cruise missile from the indigenously built, stealth destroyer INS Chennai. During the same month, the IAF, as part of its operational preparedness, successfully test fired with "pinpoint accuracy" an extended range version of the surface-to-surface BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, from a launch pad in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

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 Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), following India’s entry into the MTCR club in June 2016, recently extended and successfully test fired the missile to around 450 km (which will be further extended to 600 km).

In January it was announced that BrahMos Aerospace had bagged a $375 million (Rs.2,770 crore) contract to export the 290-km range BrahMos missiles to the Philippines.