Indian Army test fires Prithvi-II missile
India successfully test-fired an indigenously developed, nuclear-capable, short range ballistic missile, the Prithvi-II, from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, off the Orissa coast on Friday. The missile blasted off from a mobile launcher at launch complex-3 in the ITR at around 6:50am, defence sources said.
“The trial of Prithvi-II, conducted by the Army, has gone through nicely,” ITR director SP Dash said.
With a maximum striking range of 350 km, Prithvi-II is capable of carrying a pay-load of 500 kg.
The test was a user trial by the Army’s specialised group “strategic force command” (SFC), sources said. The surface-to-surface missile has already been inducted into Indian armed forces and is part of the inventory of all three services. The Indian Navy fields a version that goes under the designation Dhanush.
The entire trajectory of the missile was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars and electro-optic sensors positioned in different locations with data fed to telemetry stations for post-launch analysis, sources said.
The trial was conducted in the presence of Army officials and scientists as part of an exercise to well acquaint the personnel with various aspects of the sophisticated missile, it was informed.
The Prithvi series of ballistic missiles were developed under the country’s landmark Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). The missiles in this series are propelled by liquid propulsion twin engines.
With a length of nine metre and one metre diameter, Prithvi-II uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory.
The last trial of the Prithvi-II missile was successfully conducted from the same site on March 27, 2010.
Prithvi-II/SS-250/350
The Prithvi-II is a short-range, road-mobile, liquid-propellant ballistic missile having a maximum warhead mounting capability of 1000kg, on an extended range of 250 kilometres. It was developed with the Indian Air Force being the primary user.
The Prithvi-II/SS-250 Indian Air Force (IAF)-version comes with a 250km-range, and a payload of 500kg.
The Indian Army’s variant of the Prithvi-II was test-fired for the first time in May 2008 even though it was inducted as early as 2006. Apparently the Army version has also been tested in a 350 km extended range version, though it is not clear if this range is achieved with a reduced warhead size.
The Prithvi reportedly has the highest warhead-weight to overall-weight of any missile in its class.
The missile can carry a variety of conventional warheads such as pre-fragmented explosives, bomblets, incendiary, cluster munitions, sub-munitions, fuel-air explosives and high-explosives and has features to deceive anti ballistic missiles. The missile can also be equipped with multiple payloads, to be dispensed by the missile during its flight.
The Prithvi-II uses an inertial guidance system, and its accuracy has likely been enhanced with the addition of a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system on the warhead. It is possible that the warhead uses a radar correlation terminal guidance system.
The strap-down inertial guidance system has a twin microprocessor-based computer integrated with interrupt-driven, real time software.
Its navigation system guides it to the target within a CEP (Circular Error Probable) equal to .01% of its range. The missile’s high accuracy enables it to target enemy military targets effectively, making it a battlefield weapon. It is reported that mobile targets can be attacked with Prithvi-II missiles using Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs).
The missile has the ability to manoeuvre up to 15°, extending its range into the atmosphere.
Prithvi missiles use a gyro system with uniquely configured software. When the flight is in progress, the drift can be monitored through an on-board computer. Its thrust termination is innovatively configured allowing multiple ranges to be achieved for multiple payloads.
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