Cruise missile BrahMos successfully test-fired

New Delhi, May 31: The twelfth successful flight trial of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was carried out in the Rajasthan desert today.

According to an official spokesman here, the test -- carried out in the user- deployment configuration by trained Army personnel, met all the mission objectives.

''The missile followed a predetermined trajectory at a very low altitude impacting with precision on the designated land target,'' said the spokesman.

The flight trial was witnessed by Army Chief Gen JJ Singh, Corps Commanders and other senior officers who termed the flight as 100 per cent successful.

Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister M Natarajan and Dr A Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive Officer of the Indo-Russian 'BrahMos' Joint Project -- who were present for the trial -- expressed satisfaction regarding the missile's performance under extreme climatic conditions.

The 'BrahMos' is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between Russia's Mashinostreyenia and India's BrahMos corporation.

Propulsion is based on the Russian 'Yakhont' missile while guidance is developed by BrahMos corp., India.

BrahMos is currently one of the few supersonic cruise missiles in the world and the missile system has already been accepted by the Indian Navy with advance Fire Control System for its warships.

Work is also progressing satisfactorily on the SU-30MKI version.

The missile is under development as a joint venture between the Defence Research&Development Organisation (DRDO) from India and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) (Russia) under BrahMos Aerospace. The missile gets its name from two great rivers: Brahmaputra and Moskva.

UNI