India successfully test-fires nuclear capable 'Dhanush' missile

India on February 23, 2018 test-fired the surface-to-surface Dhanush ballistic missile from a naval ship off Odisha’s coast.

The nuclear-capable missile with a strike range of 350 km is a naval variant of the indigenously-developed Prithvi-II missile. It was test-fired from a naval warship positioned near Paradip in the Bay of Bengal.

Key Details

• The missile has a length of 8.53 meters, the width of 0.9m and a launch weight of about 4.4 tonnes.

• It is capable of carrying a payload of 500 kg and hitting both land and sea-based targets.

• Its trial was carried out by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the defence forces.

• Its launch was a part of a training exercise by the SFC of the Indian Navy.

• The missile can be used as an anti-ship weapon as well as for destroying land targets depending on the range.

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According to officials from DRDO, the trial was a complete success and all the objectives were met. The missile launch and its flight performance were monitored from DRDO telemetry and radar facilities in the Odisha coast.

Background

• 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 Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).

• The last trial was successfully tested on April 9, 2015.

• It was the third test of a Prithvi variant missile this month and the second in the last three days.

• On February 21, the SFC successfully conducted first night trial of Prithvi-II ballistic missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off Odisha coast.