BALASORE (Odisha, India), March 13 – India’s first locally developed long range cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’ was aborted midway on Tuesday after it deviated from its intended flight path and fell on land, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
The missile was terminated over the Bay of Bengal after it was airborne for about 25 minutes but crashed on land near Kendrapara, here, Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO spokesman Ravi Gupta said.
“It is unusual for aborted missiles to fall on land. There was no loss of life or property,” Gupta said, as television footage showed wreckage of the missile launched here.
The DRDO while making the announcement, however, said the sub-sonic missile ‘Nirbhay’ (fearless), with a strike range of around 1,000 km, was “successfully” launched and met the basic mission objectives and performed some of the manouveres satisfactorily.
“Nirbhay was successfully launched today at 1150 hrs from launch complex, Chandipur, Odisha, meeting the basic mission objectives successfully.
“After travelling approximately mid-way, deviations were observed from its intended course. Further, flight was terminated to ensure coastal safety,” Gupta said.
The missile blasted off from a mobile launcher positioned in the launch pad3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, about 15 km from here. Nirbhay, with the capability of being launched from land, sea and air, was developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory based in Bangalore.
BERNAMA
