Army wanted BrahMos to achieve high standards of accuracy

New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Declaring that the process of
inducting a new version of BrahMos would begin soon, the
Indian Army Monday said the trials of the cruise missile were
aimed at testing the effectiveness of a special sensor for
accurately hitting targets in an urban environment.

"Accuracy was the watchword. We had wanted them to
include another sensor (in the missile). That is what these
last three trials (were about). Because more than the naval
version, in the Army, we wanted the missile to distinguish
between similar kind of targets in urban areas. So this third
test has been extremely successful," Army vice chief Lt Gen
Noble Thamburaj told reporters here.

The process of inducting the new Block-II land attack
version of the 290-km range missile would begin soon, he said.

"The process (of induction) will now start. Because now
after carrying out the three field trials, the army is
absolutely satisfied," he said on the sidelines of a seminar
on Fire Power organised by Centre for Land Warfare Studies
(CLAWS).

Congratulating the scientists of Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) and the BrahMos Corporation
for the success, Thamburaj said the Army had enhanced its
aspirations on the capability of the BrahMos weapons system as
it wanted greater lethality and accuracy.

Noting that the Army was currently compiling the test
reports, he said the missile system provided "tremendous scope
and opportunity" for the force.

Thamburaj said each of the three tests beginning
February 20 were aimed at "collectively" fulfilling army's
requirements and more specifically the effectiveness of the
new sensor integrated on to the missile.

"The targets were different (in each test) and the place
from where the firing...the launch site...was changed. In this
supersonic weapon systems, the lesser the range (of the
target) it is more difficult.

"Both the Global Positioning System and the sensors,
these are the critical parts. When we fire from 200 km it is
that much easier. It gives (the missile) much more time," he
said.

Pointing out the importance of 'fire power' during
combat, the Army vice chief said the "accuracy, lethality and
range" of the fire power made it "a deadly combination."

Giving the example of the direct combat fire power
demonstrated last year during the 'Brazen Chariots' army
exercise in Pokhran with the use of battle tanks, Thamburaj
said it was important to possess both long range and short
rage artillery weapon systems "because battlefield is no
longer linear, not sequential."

He said: "We got to apply our fire power on targets in
depth with our Special Forces operating there during battle.
So longer range gives the commander greater flexibility and
prosecution of our kind of warfare."

The DRDO Sunday successfully test-fired the block-II
version of the land attack supersonic cruise missile at the
Pokhran ranges in Rajasthan when the weapon system hit the
target on the bull's eye. PTI