India's indigenous nuke-capable surface-to-surface cruise missile Nirbhay, often compared with the American Tomahawk missile, nosedived into the Bay of Bengal midway during a test on Friday morning.
This is the third time the all-weather, low-cost missile that is claimed to have a range of 750-1,000 km failed to meet the expectations during the test.
Nirbhay, meaning dauntless or fearless, is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and it is expected to replace the Indo-Russian supersonic cruise missile BrahMos.
Reports claimed that the missile was launched from Chandipur Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Balasore district at 11.38 am, but the missile nosedived after 128 km.
It is being reported that the missile failed less than 12 minutes after the launch.
The first test of the missile was conducted on 12 March, 2013 when it had nosedived after 20 minutes of flight.
The second test was conducted on 17 October, 2014. It was also not up to the mark as it could not maintain a low height.
