Thaindian News

Bhubaneswar, June 9 (IANS) India Thursday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Prithvi II missile from a military base in Orissa, defence sources said.

The surface-to-surface missile with a range of 350 km was fired from the launch Complex-III of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea in Balasore district, about 230 km from here.

The launch was carried out as part of the regular training exercise of the armed forces, a senior official told IANS.

“The missile reached the predefined target in the Bay of Bengal with a very high accuracy of better than 10 meters,” he said. “Prithvi-II met all the mission objectives and was like a text book launch.

“All the radars and electro optical systems located along the coast monitored the missile throughout the flight path,” he said.

An Indian navy ship near the target zone witnessed the final event.

The launch was overseen by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Prithvi is India’s first indigenously built ballistic missile. It is one of the five missiles being developed under the country’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

The missile, with flight duration of 483 seconds reaching a peak altitude of 43.5 km, has the capability to carry a 500 kg warhead.

Prithvi, which has features to deceive anti-ballistic missiles, uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring capabilities and reaches its target with a few metres of accuracy.