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India Tests Cruise Missile Developed with Russian Help
Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
29 Oct 2003, 12:58 UTC

India has successfully tested a supersonic cruise missile developed in cooperation with Russia.
Defense officials say the Brahmos anti-ship missile was fired from the Chandipur testing range in
the eastern Orissa state.
The missile has a range of about 300 kilometers and can carry a 200 kilogram conventional
warhead. It travels at twice the speed of sound and can be launched from ships, submarines, aircraft
and land-based platforms.
Officials say both India and Russia plan to induct the missiles into their armed forces after sufficient
tests. This is the fourth time the missile has been tested.
India and Russia jointly developed the Brahmos through a company their state defense
organizations formed in 1998. The close military cooperation between the two countries goes back
nearly five decades, and a substantial part of Indian defense hardware is of Russian origin.
India has already developed a range of nuclear-capable missiles, which can hit targets in Pakistan
and China.
Western nations often criticize missile tests by nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, who have fought
three wars and came close to a fourth one last year.
But the deputy director of New Delhi's Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, Uday Bhaskar,
says both countries have the ability to handle their nuclear capabilities.
"It is true that there is a certain anxiety which is often generated when India or Pakistan carry out
missile tests," he said. "But I think both countries are aware of the potential of strategic capabilities,
weapons of mass destruction as they are referred to. Once India and Pakistan are able to have their
confidence-building measures in place, my sense is that they should not generate that degree of
anxiety."
Defense officials also say the latest nuclear-capable missile being developed by India, known as
Agni III, will be tested early next year. The Agni III has a range of 3,000 kilometers. The shorter
range versions of the Agni have completed the testing phase and are being added to the arsenals of
the Armed Forces.

Pakistan carried out a series of missile tests earlier this month.