30.3.09

BrahMos test-fired


The Army’s objective to induct the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile as a ‘precision-strike weapon’ took a step forward with the testing of the cruise missile at Pokhran range for the second time this month. While DRDO promptly claimed the BrahMos Block-II missile had hit the ‘bull’s-eye’, the Army was reluctant to dub it ‘a success’ without ‘detailed analysis’. The Army’s reluctance comes in the backdrop of the first test of this Block-II BrahMos flopping on January 20, with software glitches making the 290-km range missile completely miss the intended target. The second test, on March 4, was dubbed successful by DRDO, even though the Army is yet to come out with its own findings. ‘‘We will combine and analyse the data of all the three tests before coming to a conclusion. Just one hit cannot be used to induct a new system,’’ said an Army officer. Army, on its part, had ordered two BrahMos regiments in the first phase at a cost of Rs 8,352 crore, with 134 missiles, 10 road-mobile autonomous launchers on 12x12 Tatra vehicles, four mobile command posts and the like. Navy, in turn, has ordered 49 BrahMos firing units at a cost of Rs 711 crore for now. Both Army and Navy are already inducting the missile’s Block-I version, while the Block-II variant has been designed to hit a specific small target, with a low radar cross-section, in a multi-target environment. Talking about Sunday’s test, a DRDO official said, ‘‘The missile, which flies at 2.8 Mach speed, took off successfully at 11.15am and hit the bull’s-eye, meeting all mission parameters.’’ He added, ‘‘Army’s requirement for the land-attack version, with Block-II advanced seeker software and target-discriminating capabilities, has now been fully met. This version is now ready for induction.’’The need for rapid induction of the advanced BrahMos cannot be overstated. The Pakistan Army is inducting its nuclearcapable Babur land-attack cruise missile, developed with China’s help to have a strike range over 500 km, in large numbers into its arsenal.

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