Prithvi-II: Nuclear Capable Indian Missile Successfully Test Fired

India successfully test-fired it's indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile at Chandipur, about 15 km from Balasore in Odisha.

With a strike range of 350 km from a test range, the surface-to-surface missile was test fired by the Army's Strategic Forces Command (SFC) on Friday at about 9.14 am from a mobile launcher in salvo mode, from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range. The launch was part of a regular training exercise for the SFC.

Prithvi II is a single-stage, liquid-fuelled missile having a warhead capability of 500 kg to 1000 kg, which is thrusted by liquid propulsion twine engines. The Indian Air Force was the primary user for the missile, until 2003 when its variant was inducted into the Indian Army.

"The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the total launch activities were carried out by the specially formed Strategic Forces Command and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of practice drill," sources told PTI.

The missile is equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system. The entire trajectory of the missile was tracked by a battery of sophisticated DRDO radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships located along the coast of Odisha. 

"The downrange teams on-board the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal will monitor the terminal events and splashdown," the sources added.

A senior member of the Prithvi team said the flight "most importantly, conveys our preparedness to meet any eventuality" The mission "fully validated our operational readiness".

With the launch of  Prithvi-II missile, the Army's Strategic Forces Command has successfully carried out the operational conditions launches of all the variants of Prithvi and Agni missiles, Ministry of Defence said in a statement.