The Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDO) developed surface to surface PRITHVI (P-II) Missile, recently it was successfully flight tested from Launch Complex III, Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, Balasore District in Odisha. The launch was conducted by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) as part of a regular training exercise. Prithvi-II, capable of attacking targets at ranges of 350 km, is India’s earliest developed and inducted missile among the indigenous surface-to-surface strategic missiles. Guided all through by an accurate Inertial Navigation System (INS) and controlled by the “thrust vector control and aero-dynamic control systems”, the missile reached the predefined target in the Bay of Bengal with a very high accuracy of better than 10 ms. The single stage Liquid Propelled Vehicle developed by DRDO, was inducted into the Armed Forces and one of the missiles drawn from the inventory of Armed Forces was test fired by the SFC.
All the radars, electro-optical systems located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters of the missile throughout the flight path. An Indian Naval ship located near the target in Bay of Bengal, witnessed the final event. The entire launch operations were carried out by the Armed Forces and monitored by the scientists of DRDO. It was successfully flight tested number of times as part of development, induction and training exercises. This launch again proves the reliability of Prithvi-II and confirms successful induction in service.
