IAF test-fires extended-range BrahMos from Sukhoi-30 fighter

Two months after the extended-range BrahMos missile was tested from a naval ship, the missile was air-launched from a Su-30 MKI aircraft on Thursday.

In a statement, Air Force said the missile hit its intended target.

BrahMos is an indigenously manufactured supersonic cruise missile, jointly developed with Russia. The range of BrahMos was earlier around 290 km, which, with the new version, has reached around 350 km.

The Air Force said that it “successfully fired the Extended Range Version of BrahMos Air-Launched missile from Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft”, and that the “launch from the aircraft was as planned and the missile achieved a direct hit on the designated target in Bay of Bengal region.”

This is the first time that the extended-range version of BrahMos missile was fired from Su-30 MKI aircraft. “With this, IAF has achieved the capability to carry out precision strikes from Su-30MKI aircraft against a land/ sea target over very long ranges,” the statement mentioned. “The extended range capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft gives IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate future battlefields.”

The air launch comes just over two months after the extended-range missile was fired from the Navy’s stealth destroyer, INS Chennai, on March 5.

The Navy had said in a statement then that the missile had hit its intended target “with pinpoint accuracy after traversing an extended range trajectory and performing complex manoeuvres” and that it established the Navy’s ability “to strike even deeper and influence land operations further away from sea, when and where required.”