NEW DELHI, January 11. /TASS/. India test-launched an improved version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile developed for the country’s Navy, India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) announced on its Twitter on Tuesday.

"Advanced sea to sea variant of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise missile was tested from INS Visakhapatnam today. Missile hit the designated target ship precisely," the DRDO said.

The missile was test-launched off India’s western coast.

In early December, India successfully tested the airborne version of the BrahMos missile, launching it from a Su-30MKI fighter at the Chandipur proving ground in the eastern state of Odisha.

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is produced by the Indo-Russian BrahMos Aerospace Joint Venture. The missile has been developed by Russia’s Research and Production Association of Machine-Building (situated in the suburban town of Reutov near Moscow) and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization.

The BrahMos missile was test-launched for the first time in 2001. Different versions of it are operational in all the three branches of India’s Armed Forces: the Air Force, the Army and the Navy.

The latest missile destroyer Visakhapatnam was delivered to India’s Navy in November last year. The missile destroyer carries 16 BrahMos anti-ship supersonic cruise missiles.

As India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said earlier, the BrahMos missile named after the Brahmaputra River of India and the Moskva River of Russia is a symbol of the Russia-India strategic partnership. Singh stressed that BrahMos missiles boosted the country’s defense capability to repel threats and raised its military status to the international level.