Prithvi-II ballistic missile test fired

Balasore (Orissa), Mar 27 (PTI) 'Prithvi-II' ballistic
missile, which has a maximum range of 295 km, was successfully
test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur,
about 15 km from here, off India's eastern state of Orissa
coast early on Saturday.
The indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile was
test fired at around 0548 hours from a mobile launcher from
the ITR launch complex-3, defence sources said.
The test firing of the short-range, surface-to-surface
ballistic missile, which has already been inducted into the
armed forces, was a user trial by the Indian army. The sleek
missile is "handled by the strategic force command", the
sources said.
Prithvi, the first ballistic missile developed under the
country's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development
Programme (IGMDP), has the capability to carry 500 kg of
warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twine engine.
It uses an advanced inertial guidance system with
manoeuvring trajectory and reach the targets with few meter
accuracy. It has a length of 9 metres with 1 metre diameter.
The entire trajectory of Saturday's trial was tracked
down by a battery of sophisticated radars and an electro-optic
telemetry stations were positioned in different locations for
post-launch analysis, they said.
A naval ship had been anchored near the impact point in
the down range of Bay of Bengal and long-range tracking radar
(LRTR) as well as a multi-function tracking radar (MFTR) had
been deployed to track the missile's trajectory. PTI CORR
SKT