DRDO successfully test-fires India's first indigenous sub-sonic cruise missile Nirbhay
DRDO has another achievement in their bag after they successfully test-fired Nirbhay which is India's first indigenously designed and developed long range sub-sonic cruise missile.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) achieved yet another feat today with the successful test flight of Nirbhay - India's first indigenously designed and developed long range sub-sonic cruise missile which can be deployed from multiple platforms.
It was successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, Odisha. The missile has the capability to cruise at the speed of 0.7 Mach and loiter at altitudes as low as 100 m.
The flight test achieved all the mission objectives completely from lift-off till the final splash, boosting the confidence of all scientists associated with the trial.
The missile took-off in the programmed manner and all critical operations viz launch phase, booster deployment, engine start, wing deployment and other operational parameters demonstrated through autonomous way point navigation.
The guidance, control and navigation system of the missile is configured around the indigenously designed Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG) and MEMS based Inertial Navigation System (INS) along with GPS system.
The missile majestically cruised for a total time duration of 50 minutes, achieving the range of 647 km. The missile was tracked with the help of ground-based radars and other parameters were monitored by indigenous telemetry stations developed by DRDO.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, hailed the success of DRDO Scientists and complimented them for this inspired achievement.
Smt @nsitharaman congratulates @DRDO_India for successfully flight testing 'Nirbhay' #MakeInIndia pic.twitter.com/sly3jkIX8U- Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) November 7, 2017
She was optimistic that this successful trial would take India to the select League of Nations for possessing this complex technology and sub-sonic cruise missile capability.