Dhanush, the naval version of the Prithvi missile, was launched from INS Subhadra that was anchored about 35 nautical miles offshore from the test range of Chandipur in Balasore district, 230 km from Bhubaneswar.

The missile, which has a range of 350 km and carries a nuclear warhead of about 500 kg, was fired at 11:31 am. All the operations for the launch were carried out by Naval personnel. It has met all the mission objectives. All the events occurred as expected and were monitored by the range sensors. It was a text book launch and a fantastic mission accomplished, the official said.

VK Saraswat, scientific advisor to the defence minister, and director general and secretary, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), was on-board the ship during the mission. Prithvi is part of India’s ambitious integrated guided missile development programme launched over 20 years ago.

Dhanush (meaning bow), which was tested several times in the past, is designed and built by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It was first test-fired on April 11, 2000 from the Chandipur range.