Mighty India Power

Here are 10 must-know points about India's Nirbhay: It is a sub-sonic cruise missile. It blasts off like a rocket, but then unlike a missile, it turns into an aircraft. Unlike other ballistic missiles like the Agni,Nirbhay has wings and pronounced tail fins.  In early flight after launch, the rocket motor falls off and the small wings get deployed.  At this point a gas turbine engine kicks in and it becomes like a full aircraft, explains P S Krishnan, Director, Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore. 

India on Tuesday successfully test fired cruise missile Nirbhay from the Interim Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur in Odisha. Nirbhay, which has a range of 1000 km, was fired at 11:55 am from a mobile launcher and hit a pre-designed target set in the sea. The two-stage sub sonic missile can travel at a speed of 0.7 Mach. This is the first time that India has test-fired its indigenously developed medium range sub-sonic cruise missile. "The missile blasted off from a mobile launcher positioned in the launch pad 3 of the ITR at about 11:54 am," defence sources said. The maiden launch developmental trial of the sophisticated missile was carried out at Chandipur, about 15 km from here, in the presence of top defence scientists and senior officials. The surface-to-surface missile has the capability of being launched from land, sea and air, they said, adding Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good s...