India twice successfully tests N-capable Prithvi-II missile

India on Wednesday successfully conducted two tests of its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile from a military base in Orissa, an official said.

The surface-to-surface missile, which has been inducted into the Indian armed forces, first blasted off from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, about 230 km from here, at 8.15 am and then at 9.15 am. This is the second time two Prithvi missiles were successfully tested within a gap of one hour, the official said.

"The tests were done by the armed forces. Both were perfect launches," Integrated Test Range director SP Dash said.

The tests were conducted as part of a user trial in the presence of senior scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The two missiles were taken from a production lot and were test fired by the Army's Strategic Forces Command (SFC), Dash said.

All radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations along the coast monitored the trajectory parameters of the missiles throughout the mission, he added.

Prominent among those who witnessed the test were Defence Research and Development Laboratory (Hyderabad) director P Venugopalan, programme director VLN Rao, project directors DS Reddy and Adalat Ali.

VK Saraswat, scientific advisor to the defence minister, congratulated the scientists and armed forces for the successful flight tests.

Prithvi-II has a maximum range of 350 km and can carry a 500 kg payload. The previous test of the missile Sep 24 was unsuccessful. It had, however, been successfully tested June 18.

DRDO has developed the Prithvi range under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

"The Prithvi missiles, equipped with state-of-the-art guidance systems have reached the specified targets with very high degree of accuracy," Dash said.