BHUBANESWAR: Indian Armed Forces scripted another success with the test launch of nuclear capable ballistic missile Dhanush from a Naval warship off Odisha coast as part of a secret mission.
Defence sources said the surface-to surface indigenously developed missile was flight tested in full operational configuration by Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Navy from an undisclosed location off Paradip coast on Saturday night.
This was third test of an Indian missile during night in the last one month. Earlier, SFC of the Army had successfully test-fired 350-km range Prithvi-II missile and 700-km range Agni-I in the night.
A defence official said the test of Dhanush has met all the mission objectives. “All the events occurred as expected and were monitored by the range sensors. It was a textbook launch and fantastic mission accomplished,” he said.
While the missile was fired from a warship, another warship provided all logistic support for the test. Dhanush has a strike range up to 350 km and can carry single warhead, conventional or nuclear up to 500 kg. The missile used for the test was selected randomly from the production lot.
Entire flight path of the missile was smooth in accordance with pre-designated coordinates. The missile covered more than 300 km and achieved single digit accuracy. The mission parameters like elevation, trajectory, azimuth, flight path and stage separation were rightly validated.
Developed by DRDO, the 8.53 metre-long missile has a 0.9 diameter and weighs about 4.4 tonne. The single stage missile uses liquid propellant and can be used as an anti-ship weapon as well as for destroying land targets.
Dhanush is under production after its successful completion of developmental trials. The missile has already been inducted into the Armed Forces.