Express News Service
NEW DELHI: India on Thursday successfully test-fired the Extended Range (ER) version of the BrahMos air launched missile from an Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft for the first time.
Confirming the success, the Indian Air Force said, “The launch from the aircraft was as planned and the missile achieved a direct hit on the designated target in the Bay of Bengal region.”
The extended range capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft gives the IAF strategic reach, the IAF added.
The IAF has called this validation important from the perspective of future battles. “With this, the IAF has achieved the capability to carry out precision strikes from Su-30MKI aircraft against a land/ sea target over very long ranges,” it said.
The dedicated and synergetic efforts of the IAF, Indian Navy, DRDO, BAPL and HAL have proven the capability of the nation to achieve this feat.
The air version of the older version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired from the supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha on December 8 last year.
As reported earlier by the , India on January 11 successfully test-fired the extended-range sea-to-sea variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The missile was test-fired from the Indian Navy’s newly commissioned INS Visakhapatnam on the Western seaboard.
The range of the initial version was fixed at 290 km and it flies at a speed of 2.8 mach. The extended-range version of BrahMos was developed after India’s full membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which removed caps on the range of the cruise missile. The plan has been to initially extend the range of attack to 450 km.
The BrahMos missile can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land and has been inducted into all three services — Army, Navy and Air Force.
