India on April 15, 2019 successfully test-fired it’s first indigenously designed and developed long-range and sub-sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’ from a test range in Odisha.

The state-of-the-art missile, which can be deployed from multiple platforms, was test-fired at 11: 44 am from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore, sources in Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
Describing the trial ‘successful’, they said that missile, which is capable of loitering and cruising at, 0•7 Mach at altitude as low as 100 meter, covered the designated target range in 42 minutes and 23 seconds.

The flight test achieved all th4! mission objectives, right from lift-off till the final splash, boosting the confidence of all scientists associated with the trial, sources said, adding that it has an engine with rocket booster and turbofan/jet.

The sophisticated missile took off in a programmed manner and all critical operations hike launch phase, booster deployment engine start, with deployment and other parameters were demonstrated through autonomous waypoint navigation.

“The missile majestically cruised and covered its main range”, they said, adding that it was tracked with the help of ground-based radars and other parameters were monitored by indigenous telemetry stations developed by DRDO.

“The last successful trial of ‘Nirbhay’ cruise missile was conducted on November 7, 2017.