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India today successfully test-fired its indigenously developed,nuclear-capable ballistic missile Prithvi-II twice in close succession from a launch complex of the Integrated Test
Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea of Balasore district in Orissa.
The nine metre-long,single stage liquid propelled missile with a maximum range of 350 km was first blasted off from the launch complex-3 in the ITR first at around 8:17 am and then at 9:14 am,said scientific advisor to defence minister VK Saraswat. “It was salvo launch drill in which two missiles are blasted off in close succession. The missiles had a high degree of terminal accuracy. The idea of today’s test was to give minimum reaction time to the enemy and we are happy with the results,” Saraswat said.
DRDO sources said radars fitted onto ships positioned at Bay of Bengal tracked the flight path of the two missiles. The entire operation for the launch were conducted by the Strategic Forces Command of the Army.
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The first missile test-fired at 8:17 am was codenamed A22 while the second one fired at 9:14 am was named A24.
Prithvi-II,already inducted into the Indian Army,is capable of carrying warheads weighing 500-1,000 kg. It is equipped with an advanced inertial navigation system and has features to deceive anti-ballistic missiles. It has already been inducted into the Air Force.
On September 24,an user trial of Prithvi-II ballistic had ended in an embarrassing failure as the missile dropped off a few seconds after its launch. The last successful launch of Prithvi-II was on June 18.
Today’s test firing of the surface-to-surface missile was the 7th such test in a span of 1 year 2 months.
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