Bhubaneshwar: India successfully test-fired supersonic cruise missile BrahMos integrated with homegrown seeker against a designated target at Pokhran test range in Rajasthan on Thursday.

It was first test of the world-class weapon system with indigenously developed seeker that boosted the Make-In-India initiative. The missile demonstrated its supreme operational capability with the new seeker.

The missile blasted off from a Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL) deployed in full configuration at about 8.42 am. Senior officials witnessed the launch and congratulated the operational team for its successful launch.

The missile took off successfully and hit the designated target meeting all mission parameters. All telemetry and tracking stations including naval ships near terminal point have tracked the trajectory.

Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Armed Forces and defence industry for the successful flight test of BrahMos.

"The precision strike formidable weapon with Indian-made seeker flew in its designated trajectory and hit the target with pin-point accuracy. The successful test will further bolster our national security," she tweeted.

The test came nearly four months after its successful maiden air launch from Indian Air Force’s frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30 MKI.

BrahMos missile system is the most lethal and potent weapon system for precision strike. It has all three versions -land, sea and air. The fire-and-forget missile has the capability to take on land targets by flying a combined high and low trajectory escaping enemy radar.

The successful integration of seeker is considered a big achievement as a seeker in a missile system improves its precision strike capability. This seeker can be developed further and used in other long range missile systems guiding them honing in on the target precisely.

The nine-meter long missile can travel at thrice the speed of sound and carry a conventional warhead weighing upto 300 kg. First tested for a range of 290 km, its strike range has been enhanced to 450 km after India’s full membership to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

The missiles can be fired on three different targets or in a variety of other combinations near simultaneously. Having the capability of distinguishing a particular target from a group of targets, it has empowered all three wings of the

Indian armed forces.The missile, which derives its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskova rivers, was developed by an Indo-Russian joint venture after the two countries signed an agreement in February 1998.

The Indian army is the first army in the World to have a regiment of supersonic cruise missile with advancedcapabilities.

On April 21, last year Indian Navy had successfully undertaken the firing of BrahMos missile from a ship. The long range variant of BrahMos was fired from Indian Naval Ship Teg, a Guided Missile Frigate, against a target on land.