BrahMos test fired successfully for precision targeting

- India successfully test-fired the land version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and said it was ready for induction in the army. This was the third test-firing of the missile, developed under an Indo-Russian joint venture, since January. "Today land attack version of BrahMos Block-II was tested from a mobile autonomous launcher at Pokhran test range by the Indian Army. The missile took off successfully and hit the desired target at bull's eye, meeting all mission parameters," the army's military's research wing said in a statement. Several senior officials of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) witnessed the test at Pokhran, in western Rajasthan state, near the border with Pakistan, IANS news agency reported. The surface-to-surface missile had failed to hit its target during an earlier test on January 20. It hit its target during a second test on March 4, according to DRDO officials. The BrahMos, named after the Bramhaputra and Moskva rivers, has a range of 290 kilometres and can carry conventional warheads weighing up to 300 kilograms. It is capable of travelling at Mach 2.8, or nearly three times the speed of sound. India's army and navy have begun introducing earlier Block-I versions of the missile. BrahMos is a Indo-Russian joint venture company set up in 1998.