India on Friday successfully conducted a night trial of the indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-2 missile as part of a user trial by the Army from a test range in Odisha, defence sources said. The state-of-the-art surface-to-surface missile blasted off around 7.30 pm from launch complex 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore and the trial was successful, they said.
The last trial of Prithvi-2, carried out after sunset on September 23 from the same base, was also successful. The trial of the missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out from a mobile launcher, a Defence Research and Development (DRDO) official said.
"The missile trajectory was tracked by radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations by the DRDO along the coast of Odisha," he said. The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activity was carried out by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the Army and monitored by scientists of the DRDO as part of a training exercise, defence sources said.
The downrange teams onboard a ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown. The Prithvi-2 missile is capable of carrying 500-1,000 kg of warheads and is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines, the sources said.
The sophisticated missile uses an advanced inertial guidance system with a maneuvering trajectory to hit its target, they said. Already inducted into the armory of Indian defence forces in 2003, the nine-metre tall 'Prithvi' was the first missile to have been developed by DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
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