Sustaining the momentum of operational readiness in the backdrop of the tension at the Line of Actual Control(LAC), India on Tuesday successfully test fired a naval version of the Brahmos missile.  This test is part of a series of tests carried out using various missiles in the past three months to ramp up preparedness.

The latest test of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile was conducted in the Bay of Bengal in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.  In the past few days, the Army and the IAF had conducted validation trials of the missile.  In fact, the Navy had also tested the missile capable of hitting a target at 400 km in the Arabian Sea six weeks ago.

Brahmos Aerospace, an India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms. Sources said the test-firing of themissile on Tuesday was "successful".

The anti-ship version of the missile was launched by INS Ranvijay striking the target ship at maximum range with pinpoint accuracy in the Bay of Bengal at nine am. The target was a de-commissioned ship and the missile destroyed it after performing extremely complex manoeuvres, they said.

The Brahmos as a prime strike weapon will ensure the warship”s  invincibility by engaging naval surface targets at long ranges, thusre-affirming the destroyer as one of the several lethal platform of Indian Navy fitted with the weapon system.

The armed forces have already inducted the 290-km range land and warship-based versions of the missile which travels at a speed of three times the speed of sound at more than Mach 2.8.

 On November 24, the Indian Army had "successfully" test-fired the surface-to-surface Brahmos missile.  The range of the new land attack version of the missile was extended to 400 km from the original 290 km.

India has already deployed a sizeable number of the original Brahmos missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations along the LAC in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

In the last two-and-half months, India has test-fired a number of missiles including an anti-radiation missile named Rudram-1 which is planned to be inducted into service by 2022.

The IAF on October 30 test-fired the air launched version of the Brahmos from a Sukhoi fighter aircraft in the Bay of Bengal. The IAF is also integrating the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile on over 40 Sukhoi fighter jets which is aimed at bolstering overall combat capability of the

force.

The Brahmos missile provides the IAF a much-desired capability tostrike from large stand-off ranges on any target at sea or on landwith pinpoint accuracy by day or night and in all weather conditions.