Balasore, Odisha: Taking a massive leap in its arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles, India has successfully added one more Make in India nuclear missile – Nirbhay – to the list on Monday. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently successfully test fired the Nirbhay missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) on Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha’s Chandipur coast near Balasore. This was the sixth test for the Nirbhay missile. Country’s Aeronautical Development Establishment has stated that the cruise missile is India's first indigenously designed and developed long-range missile. This state-of-the-art missile, which can be deployed from multiple platforms, was test-fired at 11.44 am on April 15 from launch complex-3 of the ITR.


Here’s all you need to know about India’s indigenous 1,000-km nuclear-capable Nirbhay missile:

1.) During its test fire, the Nirbhay missile also boasted its sea-skimming capability to cruise at very low altitudes. The successful test of the nuclear-capable cruise missile adds much-needed strike and deterrence power to India’s defence preparedness.

2.) The missile took off vertically, turning horizontally into the desired direction, booster separated, wing deployed, engine started and cruised all the intended waypoints, the Defence Ministry said.

3.) Describing the trial ‘successful’, DRDO sources said the missile, which is capable of loitering and cruising at 0.7 Mach at an altitude as low as 100 metres, covered the designated target range in 42 minutes and 23 seconds.

4.) Nirbhay is an indigenously designed and developed long-range sub-sonic cruise missile. It is a nuclear-capable cruise missile and can carry warheads of up to 300 kg. During the launch time, its launch weight was around 1500 kg.

5.) With this successful test fire, India has also sent a stern message to its rivals as the Nirbhay missile is very much capable of targetting any object within a range of 1,000 kms. DRDO wants to increase the hitting range of Nirbhay missile to 1,500 km.

6.) Nirbhay missile will eventually supplement the role played by Brahmos missile for the Indian Armed Forced by delivering warheads farther than the 450 km range of Brahmos.

7.) The first test fire of Nirbhay missile was done on March 12, 2003 from the same ITR at Chandipur in Balasore district of Odisha. The test was a partial success as the missile took off, reached the second stage of propulsion and travelled 30 per cent of its range and completed most of the mission objectives. The last trial of the Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile was conducted by DRDO in November 2017.

8.) The missile majestically cruised and covered its given range, news agency PTI quoted government sources as saying adding it was tracked with the help of ground-based radars. and other parameters were monitored by indigenous telemetry stations developed by DRDO.