India is to testfire the supersonic BrahMos cruise off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa on September 5, official sources said on Saturday.

"The preparation for the testfiring is on. The missile, developed under Indo-Russian joint venture, will be testfired from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off the coast of the state' s Balasore district," the sources said, adding "the missile will be inducted into the Indian Army as well as the Indian Navy."

BrahMos can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It has the capability of attacking surface targets as low as 10 meters in altitude. It can gain a speed of Mach 2.8, and has a maximum range of 290 km.

The ship-launched and land-based missiles can carry a 200 kg warhead whereas the aircraft-launched variant can carry a 300 kg warhead.