The Indian Army’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC) has conducted another user trial of the indigenously developed Prithvi-II nuclear-capable missile from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the Odisha coast.
Launched from a road mobile launcher in salvo mode from ITR’s launch complex III, the missile carried a 500kg dummy payload and splashed into the Bay of Bengal less than 20m from the designated target after seven minutes of flight, The Hindu reported.
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It was monitored by scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
An undisclosed DRDO source was quoted by The Times of India as saying: "The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock.
"The missile trajectory was tracked by DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations located at Wheeler Island and along [the] coast of Odisha."
ITR director M V K V Prasad said the launch of the surface-to-surface missile was a ‘success’.
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By GlobalDataDeveloped by DRDO under the integrated guided-missile development (IGMD) programme, the Prithvi-II is a tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile designed to accurately intercept targets located at a distance of 350km.
Using an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory, the 9m-long single-stage liquid-propelled missile can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads ranging from 500kg to 1,000kg payloads, and also features measures to deceive anti-ballistic missiles.
It was originally developed for the Indian Air Force and entered operational service with the SFC in 2003, which has since conducted several tests for user training.
Image: The Indian Army’s Prithvi nuclear-capable missile model in Pune, India. Photo: courtesy of Universalashic.
