India has tested yet another missile, as it ramps up its military trials program amid ongoing tensions with China. The anti-ship projectile left the target vessel severely damaged and in flames.
On Friday, a KH-35 Uran missile was test-fired from the INS Kora, smashing into the decommissioned minesweeper INS Cannanore in the Bay of Bengal.
According to the Indian Navy, the test was carried out at “maximum range” and the projectile demonstrated “precise accuracy,” leaving the target ship in flames. The navy has shared the photos of the live-fire exercise and the damaged ship on social media, highlighting India’s combat readiness on the high seas.
Videos showing the test-firing have also emerged on Twitter.
Originally of Soviet design, the KH-35 has been adopted by the Indian armed forces since 1996. The missile was fired from a guided-missile corvette – one of five currently active in the Indian navy.
This was the second publicly announced test-firing of a KH-35 this month. Last Friday, the navy launched Uran from INS Prabal into a decommissioned Godavari-class frigate in the Arabian Sea.
In the past two months, India has carried out more than 10 missile tests, including of the Nirbhay cruise missile, the supersonic surface-to-surface Shaurya strategic missile, and a laser-guided anti-tank guided missile.
India has been stepping up its military trials, primarily of indigenous-built hardware, as part of an attempt to demonstrate its capabilities amid heightened tensions with China along the Line of Actual Control – a de facto border in the Himalayas, as well as in the Indian Ocean. Earlier this year, troops from the two nations clashed in Eastern Ladakh, causing casualties on both sides, although Beijing has not officially commented on the numbers.
India and China are currently engaged in ongoing military- and diplomatic-level dialogue in the hope of arriving at a “mutually acceptable solution.”
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