BrahMos, the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile, has been successfully test-fired today in Odisha's Balasore district. The biggest takeaway from today's test launch, which met all flight parameters, is the fact that the lethal missile has more indigenous components.

BrahMos, the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile, has been successfully test-fired today in Odisha’s Balasore district. Sources told Financial Express Online that the land-attack version of the BrahMos was test-fired successfully. The biggest takeaway from today’s test launch, which met all flight parameters, is the fact that the lethal missile has more indigenous components. Sources told Financial Express Online that the BrahMos now has around 65% ‘Make in India’ components. The BrahMos missile has been jointly developed by Russia and India and has a strike range of under 300 kilometres.

Some of the major ‘Make in India’ components in the latest BrahMos missile are; airframe, propulsion system, power supply etc. According to officials, the increasing ‘Make in India’ percentage of the BrahMos missile is a big boost for the defence sector’s indigenisation programme.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the teams of BrahMos and DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation). Dr G Satheesh Reddy, DRDO Chairman and DG MSS MSR Prasad also congratulated the teams for today’s successful launch.

BrahMos is said to be one of the most potent anti-ship cruise missiles in the world and it has already been operationalised with all the three services of the Indian Armed Forces. The BrahMos has been integrated on the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet. It is said to be the heaviest missile to have been integrated on the front-line fighter jet in th world. A lighter version of BrahMos, the BrahMos NG, is being developed for integration on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas.

After India became a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the range of BrahMos missile could be extended beyond 290 kilometres. A 450-km version was tested in March 2017 and an 800-km version is being developed as well. The BrahMos missile has also generated a lot of export interest.