Nuclear weapons capable surface-to-surface missile, Prithvi-II was successfully test-fired for a range of 300 km by a missile regiment unit of the Strategic Forces Command from Chandipur, Odisha on Monday.
Although the single-stage, liquid propelled Prithvi-II has a strike range of 350 km, it was tested for 300 km in Monday’s launch. The missile was picked up randomly from the production lot and fired at 9.15 am by the SFC personnel from a road mobile launcher as part of regular training to prove the preparedness of the user.
According to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) sources, it was a ‘text-book launch”. After a flight of around seven minutes, the missile equipped with a high-precision navigation system zeroed in onto the pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with an accuracy of around 20 metres.
The indigenously-developed Prithvi-II was the first missile to be developed under DRDO's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) and was inducted into the armed forces in 2004.
The radars, electro-optical tracking systems along the coast and the telemetry equipment in a downrange ship near the target point monitored the performance of the missile during the flight and recorded the terminal event.
A different missile unit of SFC would test-fire another Prithvi-II on Tuesday morning.
