Karwar, Karnataka: Indo-Russian joint venture Brahmos Aerospace yesterday test-fired its 290km range supersonic missile from the yet-to-be commissioned stealth destroyer INS Kolkata off India’s west coast in Karnataka, officials said.
“Brahmos’ representatives successfully conducted the installation test-firing of the cruise missile from the launcher in coordination with the Mumbai-based Mazagon Dockyard Ltd, which built the warship,” a senior naval official said here, about 500km from Bangalore and 660km from Mumbai.
Though the lead ship in its class was launched in 2006, it has been undergoing sea trials for its commissioning into Indian Navy later this year.
“The dockyard will hand over the 6,800-tonne guided missile ship to the navy over the next two-three months after completing all trials for commissioning later this year,” the official said.
“It is a standard procedure to test-fire any weapon onboard the warship to assess its capabilities and operational parameters during trials,” the official noted.
The destroyer is part of the navy’s ambitious Rs15,000-crore project 15-Alpha series, in which two more warships — INS Kochi and INS Chennai — are being built at the dockyard despite cost overruns and deliveries behind schedule.
Maharashtra Cong jolted as senior leader joins BJP
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Congress suffered a rude post-election jolt yestersday when senior leader and four-time member of parliament Datta Meghe announced he was quitting to join the Bharatiya Janata Party along with his two sons.
Meghe and his sons — Sagar and Sameer — will join the BJP here on July 5 along with their supporters, a party official said.
A four-time legislator in Maharashtra, a four-time Lok Sabha MP and one-time Rajya Sabha member, Meghe has been at the forefront of a movement for creation of a separate state of Vidarbha.
In a statement here Monday afternoon, Meghe said he was “convinced that under the leadership of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and (Union Minister) Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra and Vidarbha region would progress”. “I shall join the BJP without any expectations or any posts, without any conditions and my sons Sagar and Samir shall follow suit,” Meghe said.
Sagar Meghe is a former BJP member of legislative council in the state who lost the recent Lok Sabha election from Wardha, while his father Datta Meghe was formerly a close confidant of NCP chief Sharad Pawar before joining the Congress.
IANS
