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Prithvi-II, the surface-to-surface missile was successfully flight tested by the Indian Armed Forces from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur, near Balasore off the coast of Orissa today.
The indigenously developed strategic missile was fired at 9 a.m. from the launch complex at Chandipur by the armed forces, which also monitored the entire operations. The missile, capable of attacking targets at ranges of 350 km was successful, according to a press release from the Union Defence Ministry.
The liquid-fuelled, Prithvi-II can carry warhead (including nuclear) up to a maximum of 500 kg is also capable of dodging anti-ballistic missiles. It is being produced by the public sector Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL).
In today's flight test, the missile reached the pre-defined target in the Bay of Bengal with high accuracy of better than 10 metres. All the radars, electro-optical systems located along the coast tracked and monitored the missile throughout the flight path.
An Indian Naval ship located near the target witnessed the final hit, the release from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
The launch today was carried out as part of the regular training exercise of the Armed Forces with the DRDO, which developed the missile indigenously, monitoring the event. As part of the operationalisation the armed forces had in 2009 fired two missiles in quick succession and successfully hit two different targets.
The flight test of Prithvi-II met all the mission objectives and was like a “text book” launch, according to Dr V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri and Director-General of the DRDO, who witnessed the launch operations and congratulated the Armed Forces and scientists for the successful flight test.
In addition to top officials of the Strategic Force Command of the Defence Ministry, Mr V.L.N. Rao, Programme Director of Air Defence (AD), Mr S.K. Ray, Director Research Centre Imarat (RCI), and top scientists of the DRDO witnessed the flight test.
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