India on Friday successfully test-fired two indigenously developed nuclear-capable missiles — Dhanush and Prithvi-II — from Puri and Chandipur-on-Sea in Balasore district, respectively.
Dhanush was launched from the naval ship INS Survarna anchored in the Bay of Bengal, 35 km from Puri. The surface to surface Prithvi (P-II) missile was launched from launch pad LC-III at 11 am at the Chandipur Integrated Test Range (ITR). “The missiles equipped with state-of-art guidance system reached their specified targets with very high degree of accuracy. All the radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations along the coast monitored the trajectory parameters of the missiles throughout their mission,” a defence source said.
The source added, “Prithvi (P-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.”
“The series of successful launches have boosted morale of the scientists and Indian Armed Forces. The missiles have been integrated with a very-high level of quality under the supervision of Missile Systems Quality Assurance Agency MSQAA,” informed the director of the ITR, Mr S.P. Dash.
The tests were conducted by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) personnel as a part of operational exercises in presence of senior scientists and officials of the DRDO and DRDL.