New Delhi, India: March 5, 2009- IR Summary/Agencies  : Last time the BrahMos cruise missile had failed disappointing India but this time a new version has made up the deficiency, the  test of new version of 290 km-range supersonic BrahMos cruise missile was successfully launched on Wednesday at a firing range in Pokhran in Rajasthan desert. The defect that had occurred last time in the softward has been rectified and the device is perfectly successful.

 "The Block II BrahMos missile was successfully launched at 1030 hours this morning," officials of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), who have developed the weapon system in collaboration with Russia scientists, said.

The missile "took two-and-a half-minutes to strike its target in the Pokhran firing range in Rajasthan," they said.

The test launch was witnessed by Deputy Army Chief (Planning and Systems) Lt Gen M S Dadwal among others. The latest land attack version of the missile has been developed for the Army and the weapon was fired in a vertical-launch configuration, the officials said.

The earlier test of the Indo-Russian joint venture missile was carried out on January 20 when after a successful take off, it deviated from its course mid-way and failed to hit the target.