Date : 04/03/2009
NEW DELHI, March 4 (KUNA) -- India successfully test fired a new version of
the 290-km range supersonic BrahMos cruise missile on Wednesday.
The missile is an Indo-Russian joint venture and is the same missile which
had on January 20, after a successful take-off, deviated from its course
mid-way and failed to hit the intended target.
"The Block-II BrahMos missile was successfully launched at 1030 hours this
morning," said officials of India's Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO), which have developed the weapon system in collaboration
with Russia scientists.
They added that the missile took two-and-a half-minutes to strike its
target in the Pokhran firing range in India's western state of Rajasthan.
The test launch was witnessed by Deputy Army Chief (Planning and Systems)
Lt. Gen. M.S. Dadwal.
The latest land attack version of the missile has been developed for the
Indian Army and the weapon was fired in a vertical-launch configuration, the
officials further stated.
According to the officials, a "defect" in the software of the homing device
of the missile had been rectified leading to its successful test today. (end)
py.ema
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