India successfully conducted another night test of its nuclear-capable Prithvi-2 missile on Friday as part of a user test for the armed forces from a test range off the coast of Odisha. The user test on Friday night was conducted by the Strategic Force Command, people familiar with the matter said.
The liquid-powered Prithvi-2 has a range of 250 km and can carry a 1-ton warhead. The 30-foot-tall missile is the first to have been developed by DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. It is India’s first indigenous surface-to-surface strategic missile.
The missile trajectory was tracked by a battery of long-range multi-function radars and electro-optical telemetry stations at different locations.
This is the second night of Prithvi-2 testing in less than three weeks. The DRDO had quietly conducted another night test round of the nuclear missile on September 27.
The surface-to-surface missile flight test is the 11th missile test conducted by the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization in 40 days. The last one had not ended very well and DRDO scientists had to abort the Nirbhay cruise missile that was launched from the Odisha test facility to the Bay of Bengal eight minutes later.
The Prithvi-2 missile met all parameters during user testing conducted Friday night, a senior government official said. “The nightly trial was a success,” the official said.
The next-generation missile uses an advanced inertial guidance system with a trajectory maneuver to reach its target.
Also in the past, the military’s Strategic Force Command has conducted nightly tests under the supervision of DRDO scientists as part of a training exercise. The missile has already been deployed.
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