Navy successfully test-fires Brahmos missile off Goa

Enhancing lethality of its fire power, the Navy on Sunday successfully test-fired a highly-manoeuvrable version of the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a warship off the Goa coast.

"The cruise missile was test-fired from guided missile frigate INS Teg--the Indian Navy's latest induction from Russia off the coast of Goa early this morning," sources told PTI.

The missile, which was fired without a warhead, hit the target ship after performing intricate manoeuvres, they said. It had a deep penetration on the target, which caught fire, they said.

The weapon did not take a straight attack path and kept turning around before hitting the target and this capability will make it difficult for the enemy to locate the Indian warships during operations, the sources said.

INS Teg, which has been built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia, had fired the missile successfully during its pre-induction trials in Russia last year.

The two remaining warships of the project namely INS Tarkash and INS Trikand will also be armed with the cruise missile in vertical launch mode.

The successful test of the missile from the new Talwar Class frigate under project 'Project 1135.6' has strengthened BrahMos' case for deployment on the similar warships being built for Russian Navy.

The two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant, has already been inducted into the Army and Navy, and the Air Force version is in final stage of trial, a defence official said.

While induction of the first version of Brahmos missile system in the Indian Navy commenced from 2005 with INS Rajput, it is now fully operational with two regiments of the Army.

The development of the air-launched and submarine-launched versions of the missile system, an Indo-Russian joint venture, is in progress, the sources said.

The missile has already been inducted for operational purposes in two regiments of the Army.

The Defence ministry has now given a go-ahead to the Army to arm a third regiment with the missile system for deployment in Arunachal Pradesh.