New Delhi: The Indian Air Force, on Thursday, said it has successfully test-fired a longer-ranged version of the Brahmos air-launched supersonic cruise missile against a ship target from a Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft.
The service said the missile achieved the desired mission objectives in the Bay of Bengal region.
The IAF successfully fired the Extended Range Version of the Brahmos Air Launched missile. Carrying out a precision strike against a Ship target from a Su-30 MKI aircraft in the Bay of Bengal region, the missile achieved the desired mission objectives. pic.twitter.com/fiLX48ilhv
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) December 29, 2022
The missile hit the target at 450km from the launch point. The earlier versions of the BrahMos could hit targets less than 300km. This was because the missile was jointly developed with Russia and the Missile Technology Control Regime, which India wasn’t a part, was barred from getting the tech for missiles and drones that could flying over 299km from countries that already had the tech.
Since India already had the technology, but was not a member of the MTCR, the MTCR rule was redundant anyway. However, since the missile was developed with Russia, Moscow, which was a member of the MTCR, couldn’t be seen as jointly developing a missile with over 299km range with a non-MTCR.
This changed with China lifted its objection and allowed India to be a member of the MTCR. India became a full member of the MTCR in June 2016.
With this test, the IAF has achieved a significant capability boost to carry out precision strikes from Su-30MKI aircraft against land and sea targets over very long ranges.
The extended range capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the future battle fields.
The IAF said dedicated and synergetic efforts of the service the Indian Navy, DRDO, BAPL and HAL have been instrumental in achieving this feat.
