Jaisalmer, Jan 20 (PTI) India today successfully test-fired a new version of the nuclear-capable BrahMos missile at Pokhran in Rajasthan's desert. The test comes in the midst of heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attacks.Defence Minister A K Antony, however, told reporters in New Delhi that the test was pre-planned and not directed against any country. "It (BrahMos test) is a normal thing. The test was pre-planned...BrahMos (is part of the arsenal) of the Navy and the Army. Decision (to test) was taken much earlier. We are continuing with that," Antony said in reply to queries.
The missile, with a 290-km range and capable of touching a speed 2.8 times that of sound, was launched during the trial in its vertical mode, DRDO officials told PTI.
The present round of trials was earlier scheduled for January 17 but was postponed till today. However, the DRDO sources did not specify any reasons for the delay. BrahMos is a missile that India is developing in collaboration with Russia and is named after the river Brahmputra and Moscow.
During the visit of Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to India late last year, an agreement was reached between the two countries for development of a hyper-sonic BrahMos missile, an improvement on the already-developed supersonic missile, termed as "the most advanced" in its category. PTI
New nuclear-capable BrahMos version test-fired
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