India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile from an Indian naval ship off the Odisha coast at night on Friday.
“The missile launch was part of an exercise by the armed forces and the missile reached the designated target with high precision,” said Integrated Test Range (ITR) Director MVKV Prasad. The missile launch and its flights performance were monitored from the ITR, Chandipur, he said.
The surface-to-surface Dhanush, a naval variant of India’s indigenously-developed Prithvi missile, was test-fired at around 7.40 pm from a location at the Bay of Bengal by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the defence force.
The single-stage, liquid propelled Dhanush has already been inducted into the armed services and is one of the five missiles developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
Dhanush is capable of carrying conventional as well as nuclear payload of 500 kg to 1,000 kg and hit both land and sea-based targets.