Prithvi, Dhanush test-fired

While Dhanush was test-fired from a naval ship parked in the Bay of Bengal, Prithvi II was test-launched from the DRDO-run missile testing centre located at Chandipur in north Orissa Balasore district.

“Both Dhanush and Prithvi missiles were launched by the Strategic Force Command as part of the regular user training exercise. The test launch was supervised by two independent teams,” official sources in the Interim Test Range(ITR) said.

Dhanush which has the capability to hit a target at a distance of 250 to 300 km both in sea and on surface was test-launched from INS Suvarna, the warship of the Indian Navy anchored in the Bay of Bengal about 70 km from the coastal Orissa temple town of Puri at 10.03 am.

“All the radars and electro optical systems located along the coast tracked the vehicle and monitored all the parameters. A naval ship located near the impact point also witnessed the final event. The flight test was perfect like a test book trajectory with the missile reaching the target point with a very high accuracy of less than few meters,” ITR official said.

Within one hour of the successful test-firing of Dhanush, the nuclear capable Prithvi II missile was test launched from launch pad No III of the ITR Chandipur. The trajectory of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile which has the capability to hit its target at a distance of 300 to 350 km was also monitored by all the telemetry, radars and electro optical system all through the flight.

“Prithvi II reached the designated target with accuracy of few meters which can be achieved by very few missiles in the world. A down range ship at the impact location witnessed the final event,” officials in the ITR said.

A DRDO release said the successful test-firing of the two missiles within five days of the successful demonstration of Ballistic Air Defence Missile System last Sunday boosted the morale of the DRDO scientists as well as armed forces.

 “The missiles have been integrated with a very high level of quality under the supervision of Missile Systems Quality Assurance Agency,” the release said.