India Test-fires 'Prithvi' Missile

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 26, 2003

India Test-fires 'Prithvi' Missile

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India's most sophisticated medium range surface-to-surface missile "Prithvi" was successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range at Chanipur-on-sea, about 15 kilometers away from Balasore Wednesday.

The indigenously developed 8.5-meter-high and one-meter-thick sleek missile, mounted on a mobile launcher, witnessed a perfect lift off at about local time 11:30 a.m., according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).

Wednesday's trial was a routine work of the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to improve the country's missile defense system under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program and the mission objectives of the trial had been full achieved, the PTI quoted the sources as saying.

With one tonne pay-load, "Prithvi" is considered to be a uniquemissile of its kind for the country's defense system, the sources said.

It has a launch weight of 4.6 tonnes, which includes one tonne pay load, and it can be fired on targets located at a minimum distance of 40 km.

With latest on-board computer and an advance inertia navigation system, the missile can use both solid and liquid propellant and takes just 300 seconds to reach its target at a distance of 150 km.

The DRDO had so far conducted 16 trials of the Army version of the missile since its first trial on Feb. 22, 1988 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

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