Balasore (Odisha): India’s wait for successful test-firing of the indigenously developed surface-to-surface subsonic nuclear-capable cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’ is not over yet. The flight-test of the ammunition failed on Wednesday as it nosedived after making a journey of about two to three minutes and covering approximately 20 to 30 km, sources in Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
Weighing about 1,500 kg, the 6-metre-long missile was fired at 11.54 am from Launch Pad-III of Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha’s Balasore district.
Soon after the missile — developed at Aeronautical Devel-opment Establishment (ADE), a DRDO lab in Bangalore — took off, it the ammunition started flying beyond the safety trajectory.
The scientists monitoring the fight-test of the ammunition destroyed it by swiftly activating the destruct mechanism.
Of the four test-flights of the ammunition conducted so far, — three, including Wednesday’s exercise, have failed. Capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads, Nirbhay has a range of more than 1,000 km.
