India to include BrahMos in army arsenal
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, July 24, IRNA
India-BrahMos-Arsenal
The Indian Army hopes to become the first force in the world to field supersonic cruise missiles by
operationalizing the Indo-Russian 290-km range BrahMos surface-to- surface missile by September next year.
The army has given its go-ahead for production of the land version.
Army Chief General J J Singh was present when the surface-to surface version of the missile was successfully test-fired at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan, an electronic news channel reported here quoting defence sources.
All the three trials of the missile to test its range and accuracy have been highly successful and the army has already dispatched artillery officers to Hyderabad for training to operate the BrahMos, a highly-placed defence source said.
When raised, the new BrahMos missile units would be the third such missile formations in the country. The army, under its lone 40th artillery division, has already raised specialized groups to operate the short-range 150-300-km Prithvi missile and longer range Agni-I (700-km) and Agni-II (1,500-2,500-km) missiles.
Buoyed by the successful test-trials of the land version of the BrahMos, Indian scientists are now working on the advanced version of the supersonic missile with longer reach, improved trajectory design, a touch-button-guidance system and capability to carry miniaturized warheads.
"We are aiming for a lighter missile with a small warhead and faster speed of up to mach 8 to incorporate scramjet technology," a senior DRDO official said.
BrahMos' biggest advantage, according to missile experts, is that if produced in large numbers it could tilt the conventional arms balance between India and Pakistan.
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