Prithvi-II successfully

India on Thursday successfully test-fired the Prithvi-II, the short range nuclear capable missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Balasore district, off the Bay of Bengal with the missile hitting the target with “very high accuracy”.

Nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile was successfully test-fired for its full range of 350 km on Thursday by the personnel of Strategic Force Command as part of a regular user training exercise.

The missile with a range of 350 km and with a capability to deceive any anti-ballistic missile was fired at 9.05 am as part of the regular training exercise of the armed forces, DRDO sources said.

The flight test of Prithvi-2 was like a textbook launch meeting all mission objectives," said an official present during the test. He said the missile mounted on a mobile launcher was test-fired in a vertical mode. The missile, which carried a dummy payload, covered the desired striking range before plunging into the sea at a pre-determined splash-down point.

"Taken from a routine production lot, the missile was launched with an improved aided inertial navigation system and achieved single digit accuracy reaching close to zero circular error probability (CEP)," he said.

The 8.56 m high and one m thick Prithvi missile, with a launch weight of 4.6 tonne, has a strike range of up to 350 km. Powered by liquid propellant; Prithvi can operate with both liquid as well as solid fuel. The missile is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engine and uses Advanced Inertial Guidance System ( AIGS) with manouvering trajectory and reaches the targets with few metre accuracy.

The missile was picked up randomly from the production lot and the launch operations were carried out by SFC personnel and monitored by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The single-stage, liquid-fuelled Prithvi-II that is capable of carrying payloads ranging from 500-1,000 kg had been inducted into the armed forces. It is equipped with a high accuracy inertial navigation system with sophisticated on-board control and guidance. It could be launched from anywhere with its mobile launcher having user-driven features.

Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister V.K. Saraswat, who witnessed the launch, congratulated the armed forces and scientists on the successful flight-test. V.L.N. Rao, programme director, AD, S.K. Ray, Director, Research Centre Imarat and top officials of the SFC and the DRDO were present during the mission.

In December last, two Prithvi-II missiles were successfully test-fired for different ranges within a span of one hour.