Prithvi-II test-fired again

For the second time in two days, the nuclear weapons capable surface-to-surface missile, Prithvi-II was successfully test-fired by Strategic Forces Command (SFC) personnel from Chandipur, Odisha on Tuesday.

While it was launched for a range of 300 km on Monday as against its strike range of 350 km, the single-stage, liquid propelled indegenously-developed Prithvi-II was test-fired for a range of 325 km on Tuesday. The missile picked up randomly from the production lot was launched from a road mobile launcher at 12.15 p.m. by one of the missile regiments of SFC and the entire exercise was monitored by scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

"It was an excellent mission", said a DRDO official. The missile reached an altitude of 38 km before it started descending and zooming towards the pre-designated target point in the Bay of Bengal. Carrying a 500 kg dummy payload and equipped with a GPS-INS hybrid navigation system , the missile closed in onto the target with a high degree of accuracy, said the official.

All the radars, telemetry stations and electro-optical tracking systems along the East Coast tracked and confirmed the performance of the missile till the terminal event.

Prithvi-II was the first missile to be developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme of DRDO. It has been inducted into the armed forces in 2004.