The Hindu : Front Page : Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos ready to join Navy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 04, 2004

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Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos ready to join Navy

By T.S. Subramanian

CHENNAI, NOV. 3. With a "100 per cent successful" flight of the BrahMos today from an operational ship of the Indian Navy, the anti-ship supersonic cruise missile is ready to be inducted into the Navy. This is the eighth consecutively successful flight of the BrahMos, the missile jointly developed by India and Russia.

Today, the BrahMos was launched from an Indian Naval ship in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Orissa. It accurately hit its target: a decommissioned ship of the Navy, which was moving in the waters. This is the third time that the BrahMos is being launched from a ship. It has been launched five times from ground from the Interim-Test-Range at Chandipur, near Balasore, Orissa. BrahMos flies at a speed 2.8 times that of sound, and it can take out targets 290 km away. It is eight-metres long, weighs three tonnes and carries only a conventional warhead.

The missile launched today had advanced fire-control systems. Its manoeuvrability towards the target was verified. It has a fire-and-forget capability. That is, when it is launched from a ship, it will locate the area where the target is available and home in on the target. Whatever may be the movement of the target in the sea, the missile will zero in on it.

One, therefore, can forget about the missile after it is launched.

When contacted, A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, said he was happy with the "100 per cent successful" flight of the BrahMos today. After it was launched from a ship, it accurately hit the target. Dr. Pillai said the development of this anti-ship missile had been completed. It was already under production. The Navy was happy with the missile's performance.

Prahlada, Director, Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad, said he was satisfied with the entire system, which could be divided into two: ship-borne elements and the missile itself. Both had been successfully integrated into an operational vessel of the Navy.

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