India tests supersonic cruise missile

India announced the successful test launch of a supersonic cruise missile Sunday. The BrahMos missile, which can travel at Mach 2.8, was fired at a test range in Chandipur as part of the weapon's ongoing development and deployment. "It was an experimental repeat of a previous version," range director M.V.K.V. Prasad told the Indo-Asian News Service. IANS said the conventionally armed BrahMos is capable of flying three times faster than the subsonic U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile and can be launched from planes and ground positions as well as submarines and surface ships. Press Trust India said the BrahMos has been deployed with two army regiments and aboard surface warships. Current development work focuses on the air force and submarine versions of the weapon.