India Tuesday achieved partial success while test firing its first indigenous cruise missile “Nirbhay” as it’s lift-off was successful but the flight was terminated halfway.
However, the scientists at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which has tested this missile at Sea test range Chandipur, Odisha said that they have not been able to achieve complete range capability, but the mission objectives have been met.
Television channel reports said the missile's flight had to be terminated halfway as it had deviated from its original course. The missile had to be blown up, they added.
In a statement, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said, "The Nirbhay cruise missile launch was a mixed success. The lift-off was successful but the flight had to be terminated halfway. We have not been able to achieve complete range capability, but the mission objectives have been met."
The cruise missile was fired from the Chandipur on Sea test range in Odisha at 11 a.m.
The Nirbhay (which means fearless) is highly manoeuvrable, can fly at tree-top level making it very difficult to detect on radar, and it strikes targets more than 700 km away carrying nuclear warheads, giving India the capability to strike deep into enemy territory.
The missile is said to be India's answer to America's Tomahawk and Pakistan's Babur missiles.
It is a sub-sonic cruise missile and gives India the capacity to launch different kinds of payloads at different ranges from various platforms at a very low cost.
Unlike other ballistic missiles like the Agni, Nirbhay has a wing and pronounced tail fins. It launches like a missile and in early flight the small wings get deployed. It then flies like an aeroplane and can even hover near the target, striking at will from any direction.
The missile has a fire-and-forget system that cannot be jammed and can be launched from a mobile launcher.
Earlier, P S Krishnan, Director, Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore, was quoted by a television channel, as saying that it is basically an aircraft converted into a cruise missile.
He said that the wings of the missile are folded.
"It lifts off like a missile using a rocket motor, and after the rocket motor finishes its job, it falls down and then the wings get deployed and the gas turbine engine gets kicked in and it becomes like a full aircraft," Krishnan added.
--With ANI Inputs--
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