In a step towards maintaining operational readiness, India on Tuesday successfully test-fired the indigenously designed and manufactured Brahmos supersonic cruise missile.  It was a validation test of the naval variant of the missile jointly manufactured by Russia and India.

The missile was fired from a stealth guided-missile destroyer, officials said here.  The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said the missile hit the designated target “precisely”.

“Advanced sea to sea variant of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise missile was tested from INS Visakhapatnam today. The missile hit the designated target ship precisely,” the DRDO tweeted.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the successful launch of the missile reconfirmed the robustness of the Indian Navy’s “mission readiness”.

“The robustness of @indiannavy mission readiness is reconfirmed today after successful launch of the advanced version of BrahMos Missile from INS Vishakhapatnam today. I congratulate the wonderful team work of  @indiannavy @DRDO_India & @BrahMosMissile,” he tweeted.

BrahMos Aerospace, the first India-Russian joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms.

BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound. The Army and Navy have already inducted the highly versatile missile.

Given the effectiveness of the missile capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 350 kms, operational commanders have deployed the Brahmos at various critical points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) facing China.

The DRDO also successfully flight tested the final deliverable configuration of Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) on Tuesday. 

The indigenously developed anti-tank missile is a low weight, fire and forget missile and is launched from a man-portable launcher, integrated with thermal sight. The missile impacted the designated target and destroyed it. The final impact event was captured on camera and the test has validated the minimum range successfully.  The present test was to prove the consistent performance for the minimum range.

All the mission objectives were met. The missile has miniaturised infrared imaging seeker and advanced avionics for onboard control and guidance. The missile performance has been proven for the maximum range in earlier test trials.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO for the consistent performance of the anti-tank missile and said this is an important step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat in advanced technology-based defence system development.