Indian Missile News And Discussion

[Arun_S]

More Dhanush Missile test news reports:



[url="http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2009121455301100.htm&date=2009/12/14/&prd=th&"]Dhanush missile test fired successfully: Hindu[/url]

Y. Mallikarjun & T.S.Subramanian



350-km-range missile meets velocity, height and guidance parameters



Radar systems along the coast monitor the entire trajectory





HYDERABAD: Dhanush, the ship-based anti-surface missile, was successfully launched from INS Subhadra, in the Bay of Bengal, off Orissa on Sunday.



It was fired by Navy personnel as part of a user-training exercise.



The nuclear-capable Dhanush, a naval version of Prithvi, was test fired at 11.35 hrs. It flew over 350 km and splashed down at the target point in the Bay with “pinpoint accuracy,” according to official sources in the Defence Research & Development Organisation. The missile followed the pre-designated trajectory with text-book precision and two naval ships anchored near the target tracked the splash.



The sources said the 350-km-range missile met all the velocity, height and guidance parameters. The radar systems of the Integrated Test Range (ITR), located along the coast, monitored the entire trajectory of the vehicle, which flew for 520 seconds before zeroing in on the target with a circular error probability (CEP) of below 10 metres.



The single-stage missile is powered by liquid propellants; it is 10 metres long and weighs six tonnes. It has one-metre diameter and can carry a 500-kg warhead.



V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister who is also the Director-General of the DRDO; Major General (retd.) P.C. Karbanda, who is Deputy National Security Adviser; and Rear Admiral C.S. Patham, who is Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Forces Command, were aboard INS Subhadra to witness the launch.



The sources said there would be two more flight tests of the nuclear-capable Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Agni-II (2,000 km-plus range) to overcome its failure in the two previous flights, in May and November 2009. The sources said that during its last test in November, Agni-II had a problem at the time of ignition of the second stage. Its flex nozzle, too, did not function properly.



A similar problem with the flex nozzle occurred during the first Agni-III (3,500-km range) flight in July 2006.

[url="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_missile-dhanush-has-textbook-launch_1323442"]Missile Dhanush has textbook launch: DNA[/url]

Subhashish Mohanty / DNA



India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable ballistic missile Dhanush on Sunday. The surface-to-surface missile with a strike range of 350 km was fired around 11.30 am from INS Shubhadra 35km off the integrated test tange (ITR) at Chandipur in the Bay of Bengal.



The missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is considered the naval version of Prithvi. “It was a textbook launch and a fantastic mission accomplished. It met all mission objectives and all events occurred as expected,” ITR director SP Dash said.



DRDO officials and ITR scientists were relieved after Dhanush’s successful launch. They were under tremendous pressure following recent test failures of two Agni-II missiles. Dhanush can carry a single warhead weighing up to 500kg and hit off and on-shore targets. The missile is about 8.53 m long and 0.9 m in diameter. While its launch weight is about 4.4 tonnes, it uses a single-stage liquid propellant engine.



The missile had failed its first development-stage test on April 11, 2000, due to a technical snag. But later, DRDO achieved success. The last trial of Dhanush was successfully conducted from a naval ship off Orissa coast on March 30, 2007.

[url="http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/553587/"]India successfully tests nuclear-capable missile Dhanush: Indian Express[/url]

Agencies Posted online: Sunday , Dec 13, 2009 at 1814 hrs

Balasore, Orissa : India successfully tested a nuclear-capable ballistic missile 'Dhanush', a naval variant of Prithvi with 350 km range, from a warship in Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast.



The single-stage ship-based missile was flight-tested at around 11.31 am from INS Subhadra ship 35 km off shore the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near here, defence officials said.



Describing the trial as successful, ITR director S P Dash said, "It has met all the mission objectives and all the events occurred as expected and also monitored by the range of sensors. It was a text book launch and fantastic mission accomplished."



'Dhanush' has a payload capacity of 500 kg and is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads. It can hit both sea and shore-based targets. The missile, which has liquid propellant, is the naval version of India's indigenously developed surface-to-surface 'Prithvi' missile system, the officials said.



The test launch of 'Dhanush', developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation, was carried out by Navy, a DRDO press release said.



"Today's test was tracked from its take-off to impact point through an integrated network of sophisticated radars and electro-optic instruments for post-mission data analyses," the officials said.



The scientific advisor to Defence Minister A K Antony, V K Saraswat was on-board the ship during the mission, the DRDO release said. The missile had failed in its first test at the development stage on April 11, 2000 due to certain technical problems relating to the take-off stage, but subsequent trials were successful.



The last trial of 'Dhanush' was successfully conducted from a naval ship off Orissa coast on March 30, 2007, defence personnel said.