This Article is From Apr 15, 2009

Prithvi-II test-fired successfully

Prithvi-II test-fired successfully
Balasore (Orissa):

India on Wednesday successfully test-fired a version of nuclear-capable 'Prithvi-II' ballistic missile with a range of 350 kms from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 15 km from here off the Orissa coast.

The indigenously developed surface-to-surface ballistic missile was test fired at around 1020 hours from a mobile launcher as part of a user trial by the army, defence sources said.

The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked down by a battery of sophisticated radars and electro-optic telemetry stations positioned in different locations for post-launch analysis, they said.

A naval ship had been anchored near the impact point in the Bay of Bengal and a long-range tracking radar (LRTR) as well as a multi-function tracking radar (MFTR) had been deployed to track the missile's trajectory.

The sources said the test firing of the short-range ballistic missile was a user trial by the army. The surface-to-surface missile has already been inducted into the army and is "handled by the army unit attached to the strategic force command special group", the sources said.

.