Nirbhay Subsonic Cruise Missile Test-Fired By DRDO; Trial Aborted Eight Minutes After Launch

India today test-fired its 1,000-km range Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile from a facility on the country’s western coast, Hindustan Times has reported.

According to the daily’s report, the missile test was aborted by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) eight minutes after launch.

The test was aborted using a ‘kill switch’ after the missile developed a snag, the report says, quoting a senior government official.

The missile was reportedly launched at 10:30 am.

The DRDO would conduct another test of the missile in the next few months.

This is the ninth missile test India has conducted over the last 35 days.

In early September, India tested the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle. In the last week of the month, India test-fired an indigenous anti-tank guided missile twice and launched an extended-range version of the BrahMos missile with an indigenous booster. A night-trial of Prithvi-II ballistic missile was also conducted by the Strategic Forces Command.

In the first ten days of October, India has tested the 750-km range Shaurya missile, a new anti-submarine warfare weapon called Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo or SMART and an anti-radiation missile.

India has already deployed Nirbhay cruise missile in ‘limited numbers’ to counter China along the Line of Actual Control.