India today successfully test-fired an advanced version of the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from Chandipur-on-Sea off Odisha coast. The missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from launch complex number three of the Integrated Test Range(ITR) at about 10.38 this morning. The missile is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 300 kg. BrahMos, one of the fastest cruise missiles in the world, has a top speed of Mach 2.8 and can be launched from ships, aircrafts and submarines. The two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant, has already been inducted into the Army and the Navy and the Air Force version is in final stages of trial. The induction of the first version of Brahmos system in the Indian Navy commenced from 2005 with the missile being deployed on-board warship INS Rajput, it is now fully operational with two regiments of the Army. Brahmos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture company, is also working to develop the air as well as the

submarine-launched versions of the missile system and work on the projects is in progress. The Army has so far placed orders for the Brahmos missile to be inducted by three of its regiments and two out of them have already become operational.