22.10.14

Nirbhay's test-fire successful


The Defence Research and Development Organization crossed a major milestone with the successful test-firing of India's first indigenously designed and developed long range cruise missile Nirbhay. The nuclear-capable subsonic missile has a range of about 1,000 kilometers.
Terming the test a complete success, DRDO said, “The entire mission, from lift-off till the final splash down, was a perfect flight achieving all the mission objectives.“ The first time Nirbhay was test-fired, in March 2013, it did not meet all parameters and was terminated for safety reasons after it deviated from the in tended path.
As the missile achieved a designated altitude of about 100 meters, the booster motor separated, a turbofan engine automatically switched on taking over further propulsion and the wings opened up, to stabilize the flight.
All this was done by commands generated by an onboard computer. Guided by an advanced inertial navigation system indigenously developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), the missile continued its flight that lasted a little over one hour and 10 minutes. “The missile maintained an accuracy better than 10 meters throughout its path and covered more than 1000 kilometres,” DRDO chief Avinash Chander said. “The successful indigenous development of Nirbhay cruise missile will fill a vital gap in the war-fighting capabilities of our armed forces,” he said.
The missile was tracked by a network of radars and an Air Force aircraft and its own parameters were monitored by indigenous telemetry stations.
While Nirbhay is a subsonic cruise missile, India already has a supersonic cruise missile in Brahmos, which is a joint venture between India and Russia.

No comments: