India successfully test-fired its indigenously-designed and developed long-range subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay on Tuesday.
The missile can carry warheads up to 300 kg and was fired from a test range at Chandipur along the Odisha coast.
According to officials, the missile has a strike range of 1,000 kilometres and was test-fired from a specially-designed launcher from the launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR).
Reports state that missile is expected to supplement the Indo-Russian joint venture supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, which can carry warheads up to 290 kilometres.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) sources told IANS that the Nirbhay missile test was "successful".
The missile reportedly travelled along a pre-designated flight path and then reached its target.
The Nirbhay missile is powered by a solid rocket motor booster with a turbo-fan engine and is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system indigenously developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI). It can carry at least 24 kinds of weapons and can target multiple regions simultaneously.
This was the fifth experimental test of the homegrown missile system. Out of four tests conducted earlier since its maiden launch in 2013, only one was successful.
A DRDO scientist associated with the project told PTI that the missile achieved its designated altitude and velocity, the booster motor was separated and the engine automatically switched on taking further propulsion.
He said "mid-way in its flight, the missile's wing opened up by commands generated by the sophisticated on-board computer for stabilising the flight path."
