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India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed, nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile during night time as part of a user training trial from a test range off the Odisha coast.

Highlights

• The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out from a mobile launcher from the launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur
• Earlier, Prithvi-II also was successfully test-fired during night time on February 21, 2018 from the ITR at Chandipur. Later on November 20, 2019, two trials consecutively of Prithvi-II were conducted successfully during night time from the same base.
• Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500-1,000 kilogram of warheads and is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines.
• The state-of-the-art missile uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvering trajectory to hit its target.
• The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch was carried out by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the Army and monitored by the scientists of the DRDO as part of a training exercise.
• “The missile trajectory was tracked by radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations by the DRDO along the coast of Odisha.

Already inducted into the armory of Indian defence forces in 2003, the nine-metre-tall, single-stage liquid-fuelled “Prithvi” is the first missile to have been developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).