BHUBANESWAR: Indian Army successfully conducted a night trial of nuclear-capable ballistic missile Prithvi-II from a defence test facility off Odisha coast. Mounted on a Mobile Tatra transporter-erector Launcher (MTL), the short-range surface-to-surface missile was test-fired from the launching complex III (LC-III) of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 7.30 pm.
Equipped with a state of the art guidance system the indigenously developed missile was fired in a real-time in full operational configurations. “This was a copybook success and the missile traveled nearly 300 km as coordinated. It was a successful mission accomplished,” said a defense official.
The test came a day after the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired a laser-guided anti-tank missile from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges, Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. Capable of tracking the targets with the help of laser designation to ensure precision hit accuracy, the missile engaged a target located at 3 km. However, the night trial of Prithvi assumed significance as the missiles fired in the dark are difficult to be tracked and shot down. Prithvi-II, capable of attacking targets at a range of 350 km, is India’s first developed and inducted indigenous surface-to-surface strategic missile.
The test proved the reliability of the weapon and reconfirmed its operational readiness. It can be fired anytime and in any terrain in short notice. All the radars, electro-optical systems located along the coast have tracked and monitored all the parameters of the missile throughout the flight path.
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