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Balasore/Bhubaneswar: India Friday successfully test-fired its homegrown nuclear-capable
Prithvi II and Dhanush missiles, a defence official said. Pakistan
too tested its nuclear-capable Hatf-II ballistic missile.
The Prithvi II surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range
of 350 km was launched from Chandipur, some 230 km from Orissa
capital Bhubaneswar. Dhanush, the naval version of Prithvi with
the same range, was launched from Indian Naval Ship INS Suvarna
off the Puri coast.
The two missiles were test-fired within five days of the
successful demonstration of the Ballistic Air Defence Missile
System on March 6 by the Defence Research and Development
Organization (DRDO).
All the radars and electro-optical systems located along the coast
tracked the missile and monitored all the parameters. Ships
located near the impact point witnessed the touchdown, ITR
director S.P. Dash told IANS about the Dhanush launch.
"The flight test was perfect, with textbook trajectory and the
missile reaching the target point with a very high accuracy of
less than a few meters," he said.
The Prithvi II missile was successfully flight tested from launch
complex III at the integrated test range at Chandipur within one
hour of the Dhanush test, he said. The trajectory of the missile
was also monitored by all the telemetry, radar and electro-optical
systems all through the flight, he said.
"Prithvi II reached the designated target with accuracy of few
meters, which can be achieved by very few missiles in the world.
The down range ship at the impact location witnessed the final
event", Dash said.
Both missiles were launched by the Strategic Forces Command as
part of its regular user training exercise.
The series of successful launches boosted the morale of the
scientists and armed forces. The missiles have been integrated
with a very high level of quality under the supervision of Missile
Systems Quality Assurance Agency, Dash said.
Prithvi II, a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of
350 km, is a variant of India's first indigenously-built ballistic
missile. It is one of the five missiles being developed under
India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.
The missile, with a flight duration of 483 seconds reaching a peak
altitude of 43.5 km, has the capability to carry a 500 kg warhead.
Prithvi, which has features to deceive anti-ballistic missiles,
uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring
capabilities and reaches its target with a few metres of accuracy.
Dhanush, with a range of 350 km, is a single-stage ship-based
missile with a 500 kg pay-load and capable of carrying both
conventional and nuclear warheads.
The naval missile, with a liquid propellant, is designed to target
both sea and shore-based targets. Though Dhanush had failed in its
first test at take-off stage on April 11, 2000, its subsequent
trials were successful. It was last successfully flight tested on
March 27 last year from Indian warship INS Subhadra in the Bay of
Bengal.
Pakistan too successfully test-fired the Hatf-II (Abdali)
short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile. The missile,
with a range of 180 km, can carry nuclear and conventional
warheads to the target.
The test-firing was conducted at an undisclosed location and was
witnessed by the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General
Shamim Hyder Wyyne, according to Xinhua. It is the second test of
this kind by Pakistan in two months.
Pakistan and India, which have fought three wars since their
partition in 1947, regularly test-fire missiles to display each
other's capability.
India's missile family comprises of the strategic Agni ballistic
missile, the tactical Prithvi ballistic missile, the Akash and
Trishul surface-to-air missiles and the Nag anti-tank guided
missile and their variants, apart from the BrahMos cruise missile
it is jointly developing with Russia.
Pakistan's missile repertory include Hatf ballistic missiles and
its variants, Ghaznavi short-range ballistic missile, Ghauri and
Shaheen medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles, Babur
cruise missiles and Baktar-Shikan anti-tank guided missile, most
of which have been developed with China's help.
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