Article Posted on : - Mar 27, 2010

PTI image

Balasore, Orissa (PTI) : India successfully test fired two nuclear-capable medium-range ballistic missiles Prithvi-II and Dhanush in quick succession early on Saturday from different locations off the Orissa coast, adding more firepower to the armed forces.

"The tests were successful. Both the missiles test fired early today met all the parameters," - told S P Dash , director of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.

The missiles have been developed indigenously.

The Prithvi-II was test fired from ITR, Chandipur, 15 km from here, at around 0548 hours from a mobile launcher from ITR complex-3 while the ship-based Dhanush was fired from INS-Subhadra in the Bay of Bengal near Puri at around 0544 hours by the Navy personnel as part of user training exercise.

Prithvi-II has a range of 295 km while Dhanush, the naval version of Prithvi, can cruise upto 350 km.

The test firing of the short-range, surface-to-surface Prithvi-II, which has already been inducted into the armed forces, was a user trial by the Army.

The sleek missile is "handled by the strategic force command", the sources said.

Prithvi, the first ballistic missile developed under the country's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), has the capability to carry 500 kg of warhead and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engine.

With a nine metre length and one metre diameter, Prithvi II uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory and reach the targets with a few meter accuracy.

The entire trajectory of today's trial was tracked down by a battery of sophisticated radars and an electro-optic telemetry stations were positioned in different locations for post-launch analysis, the sources said.

Dhanush followed the pre-designated trajectory with text-book precision and two naval ships located near the target have tracked the splash, sources said.

The 350-km range missile will give the Navy the capability to launch a missile on enemy's targets with great precisions.

The sophisticated radar systems located along the coast monitored its entire trajectory today, the sources said.

The single stage missile, weighing six tonnes, is powered by liquid propellants.