NEW DELHI, Nov. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- India successfully tested Wednesday the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a war ship in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Orissa state in east India, the Indo-Asian News Service quoted local defense officials as saying.

    The eight-meter missile developed jointly by India and Russia blasted off at 11:18 a.m. from the Indian Navy's INS Rajput, which was positioned about 90 km from a missile test range at Chandipur in Balasore district.

    "Wednesday's test was successful. Defense experts and top officials of the Defense Research and Development Organization witnessed it," an official said.

    The test marked the seventh successful firing of the missile since June 12, 2001, officials said.

    The three-ton missile can attain speeds of up to Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound, and has a range of almost 300 km. It can carry a warhead of 300 kg.

    BrahMos, which derives its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskova rivers, was developed by an Indo-Russian joint venture after the two countries signed an agreement in February 1998.

    It is basically an anti-ship missile that can be modified for launch from air or land. India and Russia plan to develop versionsof the BrahMos that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft and land-based mobile launchers.

    A two-stage vehicle, its propulsion consists of a solid propellant booster and liquid propellant ramjet system. It is the first and only supersonic cruise missile that uses liquid ramjet technology.

    Since 2001, BrahMos has been test fired from land, a mobile launcher and from warships. Enditem