India test-fires BrahMos cruise missile with extended life

The missile was test fired at 1040 hours on Monday from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Balasore, Odisha as part of service life extension programme.

“The life extension test firing of BrahMos was conducted from a static inclined launcher, proving the efficacy and longevity of the system which was witnessed by the scientist from DRDO and BrahMos,” a defence ministry release stated.

The precision strike missile flew in its designated trajectory and the key components functioned perfectly, the release added.

BrahMos is the first Indian missile whose life has been extended from 10 to 15 years.

The missile was test fired from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur along the Odisha coast at about 10.44 am, said sources in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated Team Brahmos and DRDO on the successful launch of the cruise missile.

“Smt @nsitharaman congratulates Team Brahmos & @DRDO_India for successful flight test carried out at 1040 hrs on 21 May 2018 from ITR, Balasore to validate BRAHMOS missile life extension technologies developed for the first time in India,” defence ministry tweeted.

The Indian Army has already inducted three regiments of BrahMos in its arsenal, all of which are equipped with Block-III version of the missile. The land-attack version of BrahMos has been operationalised in the Indian Army since 2007.

"The successful test will result in huge savings of replacement cost of missiles held in the inventory of the Indian armed forces," tweeted the Sitharaman.

The fire-and-forget missile has the capability to take on surface targets by flying a combined hi-lo trajectory, thus evading enemy air defence systems.

BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPOM of Russia, the highly versatile BrahMos has emerged as the ultimate weapon of choice in modern warfare with its unmatched speed, precision and firepower.