NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday kicked off what will be multiple operational firefights from the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile this week, in another rigorous demonstration of its precision strike capabilities amid the ongoing military showdown with China in eastern Ladakh.
The first “live missile test” of the 290 km range BrahMos, which is a deadly conventional (non-nuclear) weapon that flies nearly three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8, was conducted by the Army in Andaman and Nicobar. archipelago at approximately 10 am on Tuesday.
The Navy and IAF will conduct similar tests also in the Indian Ocean region this week. “The necessary advance warnings have been issued for planes and ships in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal,” said a source in the Defense Ministry.
The evidence comes even when BrahMos land attack missile Batteries have already been deployed in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, along with tanks, howitzers, surface-to-air missiles and other weapons, as part of the overall military readiness posture against China. Similarly, some Sukhoi-30MKI fighters armed with BrahMos The missiles are also deployed to air bases closer to the Royal Line of Control.
Sources say that work is also underway to make the improved version of the BrahMos with an impact range of almost 450 km, which has been successfully tested three to four times, operational as soon as possible. In addition, India and Russia are also preparing to test a new version of BrahMos, with a range of 800 km, in the middle of next year.
This week’s tests will see the Army firing the air-breathing missile at Trak Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago, while naval warships test the anti-ship variant offshore.
The fancier version of airdrop, in turn, will be fired from a Sukhoi flying from the mainland. With a combat radius of nearly 1,500 km without refueling in the air, the Sukhois with BrahMos missiles constitute a formidable long-range weapons package.
“The Sukhoi-BrahMos combination can be used for surgical strikes against underground bunkers, command and control centers and other military targets deep within enemy territory, as well as warships on the high seas,” said a senior officer.
BrahMos has become the military’s “main attack weapon” over the years, with contracts worth more than Rs 36 billion already signed so far. The Army, for example, has three BrahMos regiments, with another two on the way. Ten front-line warships are also equipped with BrahMos vertical launch systems, while another two are currently equipped with them. “Every major warship that is going to be overhauled or upgraded is now equipped with the BrahMos missiles,” said another officer.
The government had also previously approved the deployment of the Block-III version of the BrahMos missiles, which have “steep dive capability, trajectory maneuvering, and superior strike capability” for mountain warfare in Arunachal Pradesh, as TOI reported.
India joins the 34 nations Missile technology control regime (MTCR) in June 2016 has “removed the caps” on the range of the BrahMos missile jointly developed with Russia. The MTCR basically prevents the proliferation of missiles and drones in the range of 300 km.
On video: India successfully launches ground attack version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile
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