The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia was successfully tested from a range at Chandipur near Balasore in Orissa on Sunday, paving the way for its induction into the army.      

Terming the test a "100 per cent success," top missile scientist A Sivathanu Pillai, who heads the BrahMos project, told PTI on phone from Chandipur, "It was a very good flight, an excellent one. The high reliability and new operational capabilities of the missile were established during the flight."

BrahMos, which has a range of 290 km, will be inducted into the Indian Army this year, Pillai said.

"We are going to deliver the missile to the army this year as orders have been placed with us."

The missile has already been inducted into the Indian Navy.

Top defence ministry officials in Delhi told PTI the missile is expected to be inducted into the army from August after two more validation trials.

Sunday's launch from the Interim Test Range in Chandipur, 15 km from Balasore, established the missile's precision, long-range capabilities and high level of operational features required by the army in a theatre of war, said Pillai, the CEO of BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd.

BrahMos blasted off in the presence of Pillai, some 30 Russian scientists and experts from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the ITR at 1121 hours.

This was the 14th launch of the missile. The last test was conducted at the ITR on February four. Sunday's test was the fourth launch from land of the BrahMos and was carried out from a mobile launcher -- an indigenously built Tatra truck.

BrahMos will be the third missile to be inducted into the the land forces. The army has raised missile groups armed with the Prithvi surface-to-surface missile with a range of 150-250 km and the 700-km medium range Agni missile.

Defence scientists are working on a miniaturised version of BrahMos to be launched from the Sukhoi-30 combat jets. The sea-launched version of BrahMos has been installed on the Rajput and Ranvijay class of frigates of the navy.

The missile has also been fitted on the Kolkata-class destroyers currently being built at Mazagon docks in Mumbai.      

After the last successful test of the land-based version of BrahMos, the army placed an order for a 'sub-group' of 12 cruise missiles in March 2006 and these will be delivered by the end of 2008, officials said.

Pillai also said the testing of the missile to fit it into submarines will be conducted in future. "We are actually waiting for the platform," he said.

Several countries have shown interest in the BrahMos, he said.

"Many countries have evinced interest in the BrahMos, which has no equivalent in the world. There is no missile in the world with such capacities, precision, speed and power."

The Indian and Russian governments will decide the countries to which the missile could be sold, he said.