India on Friday successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable ‘Dhanush’ ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km from a naval ship off Odisha coast.
The surface-to-surface missile, a naval variant of the indigenously-developed ‘Prithvi’ missile, was test-fired from the ship positioned near Paradip in the Bay of Bengal at around 10.52am.
“Dhanush” :
Dhanush’ missile is capable of carrying a payload of 500 kg and hitting both land and sea-based targets, the sources said, adding that its trial was carried out by the Strategic Force Command(SFC) of the defence forces.
“The missile launch was part of training exercise by the SFC of Indian Navy,” one official said.
Describing the test launch as “a complete success”, the officials said all mission objectives were met during the trial.
“The missile launch and its flight performance were monitored from DRDO telemetry and radar facilities in the Odisha coast,” they said.
The single-stage, liquid-propelled ‘Dhanush’, has already been inducted into the defence services. It is one of the five missiles developed by the Defence research and development organization(DRDO) under the Integrated guided missile development program(IGMDP).
The last trial was successfully tested on April 9, 2015, the sources added.
Dhanush Missile Characteristics:
Dhanush (“Bow”) is a variant of the surface-to-surface or ship-to-ship Prithvi III missile, which has been developed for the Indian Navy. It is capable of carrying both conventional as well as nuclear warheads with pay-load capacity of 500 kg-1000 kg and can strike targets in the range of 350 km. The Missile was test-fired successfully on 5 October 2012, on 23 November 2013,9 April 2015, and 24 November 2015 from Indian Navy ship INS Subhadra (P51) in the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast. A successful user trial was conducted from a naval ship on 23 February 2018 by the Strategic Forces Command off the Odisha coast. The Dhanush missile can be used as an anti-ship weapon as well as for destroying land targets depending on the range.