India test fires ‘Nirbhay’ missile

India test fires Nirbhya Missile

Question: India conducted a flight test of its indigenously designed and developed long range sub-sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’ on November 7th. This missile is capable to carry warheads of up to-
(a) 300 kg
(b) 500kg
(c) 1000kg
(d) 1200kg
Answer: (a)
Related Facts:

  • On November 7th, 2017, India conducted a flight test of its indigenously designed and developed long range sub-sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’.
  • The flight test was done from the launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur along the Odisha coast.
  • It can carry a warhead of 200 kg to 300 kg at a speed of 0.6 to 0.7 Mach.
  • The missile has an operational range of 1000 km.
  • ‘Nirbhay’ missile is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system indigenously developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), the DRDO.
  • This two-stage missile is 6 metre long, 0.52 metre wide with a wing span of 2.7 metre.
  • Powered by a solid rocket motor booster developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) and can travel with a turbofan or turbojet engine.
  • It is noteworthy that this was the fifth experimental test of the homegrown missile system.
  • The maiden test flight of ‘Nirbhay’ held on March 12, 2013 had to be terminated midway for safety reasons due to malfunction of a component.
  • However, its second launch on October 17, 2014 was successful.
  • In the next trial conducted on October 16, 2015, the missile deviated from its path after covering 128 km.

Reference:
http://www.ptinews.com/news/9214379_India-test-fires–Nirbhay–missile.html
http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/nirbhay-missile-test-fired-off-odisha-coast-117110700604_1.html