India conducts maiden test fire of Sub sonic cruise missile 'Nirbhay'
Balasore, Mar 12 : The much-hyped newly developed subsonic, medium range, cruise missile 'Nirbhay' was test fired from Launch complex number three of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur on sea, about 15 km from here today.
ITR sources here said the missile developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a Defence Research and Development Organisation,was test fired at 1155 hours .
For the first time India has developed a cruise missile which will travel at a sub-sonic speed (less than the speed of sound).
Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features and it is equivalent of Tomahawk, a long-range, sub-sonic cruise missile, developed by the United States.
Nirbhay is a two-stage, surface-to-surface missile. While a booster engine would 'kick the first stage' from the ground, the second stage has a turbo-prop engine, akin to an aircraft's.
It can carry multiple payloads and engage several targets. Even if there are multiple targets, it can pick out a target and attack it, defence sources said.