India successfully testfired nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile

Defence & Security News - India
 
India successfully testfired nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile
India on Thursday successfully testfired its home-made, nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile from a test range in the eastern state of Odisha, sources said. "The surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was testfired from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur as part of an user trial by the Indian Army. The testfiring at 9: 20 p.m. (local time) was successful," the sources said.
     
India successfully testfired nuclear capable Prithvi II missile 640 001India home-made nuclear-capable Prithvi-II surface-to-surface missile
     
With a strike range of 350 km, Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twine engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvering trajectory.

"The trial of the missile conducted by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) was fully successful," ITR director MVKV Prasad told PTI over phone.


"The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed SFC and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of training exercise," a defence scientist said.

"The missile trajectory was tracked by DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations located along the coast of Odisha," sources said.

"The downrange teams on board the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown," they said.

Inducted into India's SFC in 2003, Prithvi II, the first missile to be developed by DRDO under India's prestigious IGMDP (Integrated Guided Missile Development Program) is now a proven technology, defence sources said.

Such training launches clearly indicate India's operational readiness to meet any eventuality and also establishes the reliability of this deterrent component of India's Strategic arsenal, they said.

The last user trial of Prithvi-II was successfully conducted on November 14, 2014 from the same test range in Odisha.