NEW DELHI - Providing it a swift strike capability along the border with Pakistan, the Indian Army Sunday inducted its second BrahMos supersonic cruise missile regiment in the western sector, reported Indian media.
It also successfully conducted a test of the 290-km range missile to validate the unit’s operationalisation. “In conformity and pursuit of operational and strategic surface-to-surface missile capability development, the second BrahMos unit of Indian Army has been operationalised somewhere in western sector,” an army spokesperson said in a statement.
“The Indian Army unit successfully launched BrahMos missile and destroyed the preselected target in the field firing ranges in Rajasthan on Sunday,” he added. BrahMos has the capability of attacking surface targets by flying as low as 10 metres above the ground.
It can reach a speed of Mach 2.8 or close to three times the speed of sound.
The BrahMos has been developed as a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia under BrahMos Aerospace. The missile is named after two rivers, the Brahmaputra and the Moskva.
Meanwhile, Indian Army Chief General V K Singh on Sunday wrote a letter to Defence Minister AK Antony, saying Indian army is seriously short of ammunition and in the event of war, it may run out of stocks in two days, reported The Indian Express.
It also warns of shortages in artillery and air defence ammunition and says that the blacklisting of firms has contributed to the situation. Moreover, same situation likely to continue as the Indian government hinting at cuts in defence spending in the next budget.
With reports hinting at cuts in defence spending in the next budget, the army may well see further degradation of its capability.