New Delhi: (Defence News) Adding more firepower to its already formidable force India has successfully test-fired anti-ship version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Tuesday. "India today testfired the anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory. The test is part of the trials being conducted by the Indian Navy," news agency ANI tweeted citing defence sources.
The test comes on the backdrop of a series of missile launches in the recent past. A test was also undertaken on November 25 by the Indian Air Force (IAF). The fastest cruise missile in its class, BrahMos has a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.
Jointly developed by Russia and India, successful integration of BrahMos with air, land and sea platforms is also being viewed as a major leap towards indigenisation. This assumes importance on the backdrop of government's repeated emphasis on its flagship Make in India scheme and the more recent call for an 'Aatmanirbhar' Bharat.
Over the past few months, India has conducted a series of tests across land, air and sea. The tests may be viewed against the ongoing Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh where the Indian and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops have been locked in a bitter standoff. Chinese expansionist designs are also evident in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and Pacific, where Beijing has been violating globally accepted maritime laws and exerting territorial claims.
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