BrahMos missile fully operational with two Army regiments: Govt

NEW DELHI: Indigenously developed BrahMos cruise missile system having a strike range of 290 kms, has become fully operational with two regiments of the Indian Army, government told the Rajya Sabha today.

In a written reply, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "The flight trial was carried out on March 4, 2012 by the Second Regiment of the BrahMos Army Unit for operationalisation of the regiment in desert warfare, after training of the personnel.

"With this test firing, the BrahMos Missile System is fully operational with two regiments of the Army," he said.

He was asked whether the BrahMos missile was test fired and its details thereof.

Informing the House on the test firing conducted by Army, the Defence Minister said, "BrahMos Missile System with launchers, mobile command post with its control and communication systems had been fully deployed by the Army in operational mode and the missile was fired".

Replying to a question on indigenous production of defence equipment, Antony said the defence public sector units are taking various initiatives to encourage indigenous participation in defence production and to widen the defence industrial base.

"These include development of indigenous vendors, registration of new vendors, policy initiative for greater private sector participation and outsourcing in their production programme," he said.