India on Friday successfully test-fired its first indigenously-developed long-range subsonic cruise missile, Nirbhay, from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near here at round 10.05 am from a mobile launcher.
The missile of its kind, under the developmental trial, was tested for a distance of about 1,000 km after removing technical flaws, which were encountered during its maiden test on March 12 last year, and the debut flight had to be aborted in the midair after it deviated from its path. The unique feature of the six-metre-tall, low-altitude flying missile is that it can evade detection by radars.
The Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, a high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features and it is an equivalent of Tomahawk, a long-range, subsonic cruise missile developed by the US. India felt the need for developing a subsonic cruise missile with a long range, and the upshot is Nirbhay, said Defence sources.
The Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a DRDO facility in Bangalore, has designed the Nirbhay, the equivalent of lakshya, which is a pilotless target aircraft developed by the ADE. The Nirbhay has many technologies derived from lakshya. It is a two-stage, surface-to-surface missile. While a booster engine would kick the first stage from the ground, the second stage has a turbo-prop engine, akin to an aircraft’s.
The subsonic missile can carry multiple payloads and engage several targets. Even if there are multiple targets, it can pick out a target and attack it. It is a loitering missile; it can go round and round a target, perform several manoeuvres and take it apart. It has precision, endurance and accuracy.
Four versions of the Nirbhay — land, ship, air and submarine — would be developed and for the first land attack cruise missile, the DRDO has a target of developing in three years, said the Defence sources.