Balasore: Long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay was successfully test fired from launch pad-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore Wednesday.
The test fire of the ‘Made in India’ missile was carried out by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at 9.53 am.
The missile is claimed to have seaskimming and loitering capability — it can go round a target and perform several manoeuvres and then re-engage it.
While the turbofan engine has already been used in Nirbhay missiles, Indigenous Manik turbo engine was used for the current test fire.
Therefore, it has been dubbed as the Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile by DRDO. The missile has a length of 6 metres, width of 0.52 metre, a wingspan of 2.7 metres and weighs about 1500 kg.
It has a range of about 1500 km and is capable of delivering 24 different types of warheads depending on mission requirements between 200 kg and 300 kg.
The Nirbhay missile was first test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur March 12, 2013. It was tested for the ninth time Wednesday.
PNN