India Test-fires "Nirbhay" Subsonic Cruise Missile

India completed test-firing "Nirbhay" long-range subsonic cruise missile from a test range in Odisha on Monday.

The missile was test-fired from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore, sources in Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.

The Nirbhay cruise missile can be deployed from multiple platforms is capable of loitering and cruising at 0.7 Mach at altitude as low as 100 metre, covered the designated target range in 42 minutes and 23 seconds. It can travel with a turbofan or turbojet engine and is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system.

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