Today, the 22nd of November marks a milestone in the Indian army’s calendar. Here is the reason as to why it is so.
In a much-awaited development, the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was tested onboard Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Sukhoi- 30 MKI aircraft off the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday. The successful testing of the missile puts India in a strategically dominant position, given the reach of India’s multi-role Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets and the accuracy of nuclear-capable BrahMos missile India has been jointly developing with Russia.
The “marriage” between the fighter jet – which has a cruising range of 3,200-km – and the BrahMos is expected to be “a deadly combination”, defense sources said. The world-class weapon with a multi-platform, multi-mission role is now capable of being launched from land, sea, and air. For India, that completes its tactical cruise missile triad.
For the test, today, the missile was gravity dropped from the Su-30 fuselage. The two-stage missile’s engine then fired up and immediately propelled towards the sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal.
“BrahMos, the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile created history on 22nd Nov 2017 after it was successfully flight-tested first time from the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal. The missile was gravity-dropped from the Su-30 from the fuselage, and the two-stage missile’s engine fired up and straightway propelled towards the intended target at the sea in the Bay of Bengal,” a press release by the Ministry of Defense said
“The successful maiden test firing of BrahMos Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) from Su-30MKI will significantly bolster the IAF’s air combat operations capability from stand-off ranges,” the Defense minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Mr. Sitharaman congratulated the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as well as BrahMos for the successful test. BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPOM of Russia.
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