Nirbhay: Know all about India's first indigenous subsonic cruise missile

New Delhi : India successfully test-fired first indigenously-designed and developed Long Range Sub-Sonic cruise missile Nirbhay on Tuesday. 

With the capability to strike deep into enemy territory, Nirbhay has been designed and developed by the DRDO at its aeronautics R&D laboratory Aeronautical Development Establishment based in Bengaluru.

The cruise missile is powered by a solid rocket motor booster developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory and is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system indigenously developed by Research Centre Imarat.

Nirbhay is able to pick out a target among multiple targets and attack it, can go around a target and re-engage it. It can fly at different altitudes ranging from 500 metres to 4 km above ground and can fly at tree level to avoid detection by radar.

The missile has the capability to loiter and cruise at 0.7 Mach, at altitudes as low as 100 metres. The flight test achieved all the mission objectives completely from lift-off till the final splash, boosting the confidence of all scientists associated with the trial, it added. 

The guidance, control and navigation system of the missile is configured around the indigenously designed Ring Laser Gyroscope and MEMS-based Inertial Navigation System along with GPS system.

Nirbhay's December 2016 trial was aborted half-way as the missile changed its targeted course. It had to be destroyed within minutes of taking off amid a threat that the missile could hit land.

The 750-1,000 km-long range missile's first test on March 12, 2013 failed as it fell after 20 minutes of flight. The second on October 17, 2014 was, however, successful.

The third test on October 16, 2015 saw the missile nose-dive after covering 128 km in the Bay of Bengal.

(With inputs from agencies)