Bhubaneswar, October 17
India today successfully test-fired its indigenously-developed nuclear-capable sub-sonic long-range cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’ that can hit a target 1,500 km away. The missile was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha’s Baleswar district.

The missile has a capacity to hit targets at a distance of 1,500 km and was successfully test-fired at 10.03 am, said BK Das, additional director of the Chandipur Integrated Test Range.

“We have achieved a great feat by successfully testing this missile. It would help immensely in future,” said Das.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists on the successful test-firing of the missile and described it as a “great impetus to our defence capabilities”.

This is the second developmental trial of the missile. It was first test-fired on March 12, 2013, but it could not achieve all desired parameters as the flight had to be terminated mid-way when deviations were observed from its intended course.

Das said Nirbhay covered a distance of over 1,000 km during its 73.12 minute flight during today’s test.

The DRDO is developing an air-launched version of the 1,500-km-range missile, which would be capable of being fired from the air force’s frontline Su-30MKI combat aircraft, sources said.

Nirbhay is being developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a DRDO lab in Bangalore.

India has in its arsenal the 290-km range supersonic “BrahMos” cruise missile, which is jointly developed by India and Russia.

But ‘Nirbhay’ with long-range capability is different because of its good loitering capability, better control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features. — Agencies