India conducts successful test of Nirbhay cruise missile

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation conducted a successful test flight of the indigenously developed Nirbhay long-range sub-sonic cruise missile, the Ministry of Defense said in a Tuesday, November 7 press release.

Tuesday’s flight was the fifth test of the weapon system.

The flight test at the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur “achieved all the mission objectives” including launch, booster deployment, wing deployment and autonomous waypoint navigation the release said. The missile flew 647km in a 50-minute test flight.

Developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment based in Bengaluru, the two-stage missile was first tested in 2013. Nirbhay has a launch weight of around 1,500kg and is designed to be deployed from multiple platforms. The turbofan engines enables the missile to cruise at Mach 0.7 at altitudes from 100m, and to have loiter capabilities. It uses the indigenously designed Ring Laser Gyroscope and MEMS based Inertial Navigation System along with a GPS system.

In the second launch test in October 2014, the missile flew over 1,000km and “maintained an accuracy better than 10 meters throughout its path,” according to DRDO.

The missile can carry warheads of up to 300kg and, according to PRI, is nuclear-capable.

The test comes just days after India conducted a series test of its Smart Anti Airfield Weapon glide bomb.

India successfully tests new smart anti-airfield glide bomb