Balasore: 'BRAHMOS' the supersonic anti-ship cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia, was successfully flight tested from an undisclosed location in the Bay of Bengal off Orissa coast on February 12.

The test was conducted from a Naval ship INS Rajput in the afternoon, Defence sources said.

The missile is marginally over eight metres in length, 670 mm in diametre and weighs 3000 kg. It combines the propulsion system and self-homing device of Russia's 'Yakhont' or 'Onyx' system with sophisticated on-board computer guidance developed by Indian Defence scientists.

'BRAHMOS' has a target range of about 290 km with 200 to 300 kg pay load or conventional warhead mass depending on the version, the sources said.

Primarily an anti-ship missile, BRAHMOS also has the capability to engage shore-based radio-contrast targets. It can be fired from multiple platforms--- ship, land, submarine and air, the sources said.

Launched from a ship, it can fly up to height of 14 km at 2 Mach speed (twice the speed of sound). It has a preset trajectory, but a sensor on the head detects the target and can change the missile's course to strike up to 20 km from the targeted range.

The missile has also a device to skim at near-surface level.

PTI