India Tuesday successfully test- fired the nuclear-capable BrahMos missile, with a range of 290 kms, at Pokhran in west state Rajasthan's desert, reported Press Trust of India.

Indian Defence Minister A K Antony told reporters in New Delhi that the test was pre-planned and not directed against any country.

The missile, capable of reaching a speed of 2.8 times that of sound, was launched during the trial in its vertical mode, a defense official told reporter.

The present round of trials was earlier scheduled for January 17 but was postponed till today. However, no reason for the delay was given to the media.

BrahMos is a missile that India is developing in collaboration with Russia and is named after river Brahmputra and Moscow.

During the visit of Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to India late last year, an agreement was reached between the two countries for development of a hyper-sonic BrahMos missile.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)