India successfully test fires long range sub-sonic cruise missile \'Nirbhay\'

New Delhi: India on Monday successfully test-fired its own version of America’s famous Tomahawk missile, ‘Nirbhay’ from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur Odisha.

‘Nirbhay’, designed and developed indigenously by Defence Research and Development Organisati-on (DRDO), is long range sub-sonic cruise missile which can strike a target upto 1,000 km.

It is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and can be deployed from multiple platforms.

Nirbhay can fly at a low level to escape detection by radars and is highly manoeuvrable.

DRDO said that Monday’s test was the sixth development flight trial with objective to prove the repeatability of boost phase, cruise phase using way point navigation at very low altitudes.

“The missile took off vertically turning horizontally into desired direction, booster separated, wing deployed, engine started, cruised all the intended waypoints,” said DRDO. The missile demonstrated its sea-skimming capability to cruise at very low altitudes, it said. The entire flight was fully tracked by a chain of electro optical tracking systems, radars and ground telemetry systems deployed all along the sea coast. “All the mission objectives were met,” it said. India developed a supersonic cruise missile Brahmos in association with Russia, which has a range under 500 kilometres. The last successful trial of ‘Nirbhay’ cruise missile was conducted on November 7, 2017.