IAF successfully test fires air-launched version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

Adding another feather in its cap, the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday successfully test-fired an air-launched version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile developed by DRDO, from a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft. Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft of the IAF was deployed to accomplish the herculean task as it flew from Halwara airbase on Friday to hit a ship in the Bay of Bengal.

According to sources, the IAF Su-30 had taken off from the Halwara airbase in Punjab around 9 am and hit its target around 1.30 pm after mid-air refuelling, the sources said.  The total distance travelled by the fighter jet during the sortie was over 3,500 kilometres which required it to be refuelled multiple times by the Ilyushin-78 midair refuelling aircraft which had taken off from Agra.

This is the second such successful test after the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired a naval version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Arabian Sea on October 18. The missile was fired from INS Chennai, an indigenously built stealth destroyer, and it hit the target with pinpoint accuracy after performing "extremely complex" manoeuvres. India has tested 10 missiles in the last two months amid a bitter stand-off with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). 

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The Indian Armed Forces have conducted many successful tests in the last two months:

Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV): An unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft for hypersonic speed flight which can fly at a speed of Mach 6 and move up to an altitude of 32.5 km in 20 seconds, besides its utility for long-range air missiles, the technology can also be used for launching satellites at low cost. It was test-fired on September 7. 

Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM): ATGM successfully test-fired from an MBT Arjun Tank in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar on September 23. Laser-guided ATGMs lock and track the targets with the help of laser designation to ensure precision hit accuracy.

BrahMos supersonic cruise missile: India successfully conducted its second test-fire of the extended range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile on September 30. The test-fire of the missile, which can hit targets at more than 400-km range, was carried out under PJ-10 project of the DRDO.

Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART): DRDO conducted successful flight testing of the SMART on October 5, a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations for far beyond torpedo range.

RUDRAM: DRDO on October 9 conducted a successful flight test of an advanced anti-radiation missile. The indigenously developed New generation Anti Radiation Missile or RUDRAM was launched from a SU-30 Mk1 fighter aircraft onto a radiation target located on Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.

(Image: PTI)

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