New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday congratulated Indian scientists on the successful test-firing of the Nirbhay missile.
PM Modi, took to micro-blogging website Twitter, and wrote - "Congratulations to our scientists on the successful test-fire of the Nirbhay missile. This is a great impetus to our defence capabilities."
Congratulations to our scientists on the successful test-fire of the Nirbhay missile. This is a great impetus to our defence capabilities.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 17, 2014
Nuclear-capable Nirbhay cruise missile was successfully test-fired from a test range in Odisha today. It is the second test of the sub-sonic long range cruise missile 'Nirbhay', which has a range of 700 to 1000 km, from the ITR.
The maiden flight, conducted on March 12, 2013 could not achieve all the desired parameters as "the flight had to be terminated mid-way when deviations were observed from its intended course," as per the sources.
India has in its arsenal the 290 km range supersonic "BrahMos" cruise missile which is jointly developed by India and Russia.
But 'Nirbhay' with long range capability is a different kind of missile being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features.