India test-fires upgraded version of Brahmos missile
02 Dec 2010
India today successfully test-fired an upgraded version of the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off the Orissa coast.
The Block III version of BrahMos has advanced guidance and upgraded software and incorporates high manoeuvrability at multiple points and steep dive from high altitude.
"All telemetry and tracking stations, including naval ships near the terminal point have confirmed the mission's success," its director S P Dash said after the test fire from a mobile launcher at 11 am.
"It was a text book launch and the mission was successful," A Sivathannu Pillai, chief executive and managing director of BrahMos Aerospace, said.
"This landmark test once again established the mountain warfare capability of the supersonic cruise missile with new guidance scheme incorporating large scale manoeuvre and steep dive with precision strike capability," he added.
The missile was put through extreme conditions and it successfully went through all complicated manoeuvres as envisaged in the battlefield in mountain terrains following the exact flight path given to it, Sivathanu Pillai said.
Meanwhile, the government said it will soon put in place a tactical battlefield communication system, minister of state for defence M M Pallam Raju said today.
"The Indian armed forces will soon have in place a tactical battlefield communication system," the minister said while inaugurating a two-day seminar on `Converged Infostructure for a Transformed Force" in New Delhi today.
