The successful test-firing of the indigenously-developed nuclear capable sub-sonic cruise missile Nirbhay, which can hit targets at distance of 1,000 km, comes a major boost to India’s strike capabilities.
With the missile that can be fired from land, air, sea and underwater, India has now entered the elite club of countries — including US, Russia and China — which have developed these missiles.
Once inducted, after more trials over the next few months, Nirbhay will neutralise the threat posed by a similar class of missile, Babur of Pakistan. China had given the technology to Pakistan for this missile. Indian Army, IAF and Navy will carry out user trials once the missile is declared fit for operational deployment.
The missile was test-fired at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Balasore, Odisha from a mobile launcher at about 10.03 am and the trial was totally successful, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials said here later.
The entire mission, from lift-off till the final splash down was a perfect flight achieving all the mission objectives, they said.
The cruise missile, powered by a solid rocket motor booster took off from a mobile launcher specifically designed for Nirbhay. As it achieved designated altitude and velocity, the booster motor got separated, the turbofan engine automatically switched on taking over the further propulsion and the wings opened up by the commands generated by the onboard computer stabilising the flight.
Guided by an indigenously developed advanced inertial navigation system, the missile continued its flight that lasted a little over one hour and ten minutes. “The missile maintained accuracy better than 10 metres throughout it’s path and covered a distance of more than 1,000 km,” informed DRDO chief Avinash Chander.
He said the successful indigenous development of Nirbhay cruise missile will fill a vital gap in the war fighting capabilities of our armed forces as the 1,000 kilometre class cruise missile has the capability to strike deep in to the enemy territory.
This was the second launch of Nirbhay cruise missile. The maiden launch last year on March 12 last year was partial success achieving most of the mission objectives. However, the maiden flight had to be terminated for safety reasons due to malfunction of a component, after deviation from intended path was observed.
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 a different kind of missile being developed by the DRDO. Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features.