PTI

New Delhi, Mar 4: After failing to hit its target in the previous test, a new version of the 290 km-range supersonic BrahMos cruise missile was on Wednesday successfully test launched at a firing range in Pokhran in Rajasthan desert.

"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.

The officials said that a "defect" in the software of the homing device of the missile had been rectified leading to its successful test on Wednesday.