India successfully test fires indigenous subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay off Odisha coast

Bhubaneswar: India on Tuesday test-fired the indigenously-designed and developed long-range subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay from an Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha’s Balasore. [caption id=“attachment_4197465” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The missile, with a strike range of 1,000 kilometer, was test-fired from a specially-designed launcher from the launch complex-3 of the ITR, defence sources said. The cruise missile is expected to supplement the Indo-Russian joint venture supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, which can carry warheads up to 290 kilometer. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) sources said the Nirbhay missile test was “successful”. It travelled along a pre-designated flight path and homed in on the target, the sources added. Powered by a solid rocket motor booster, the Nirbhay missile, with a turbo-fan engine, is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system. Capable of carrying 24 kinds of war weapons, the missile is able to target multiple places simultaneously. It was the fifth launch of the missile in the last five years. Out of the last four, three had failed in past years. The missile had achieved success during the second test in 2014. The maiden test flight of Nirbhay was held on 12 March, 2013.