14 years, 6 months ago

Prithvi-II fails to take off

The nuclear weapons-capable, surface-to-surface ballistic missile Prithvi-II failed to take off after it was fired from a mobile launcher during a user trial at Chandipur in Orissa on Friday. The missile, with a range of 350 km, was fired around 10 a.m. by personnel of the Strategic Forces Command as part of a training exercise. But the rocket engine stopped functioning a few seconds after the launch command was given and failed to provide the missile the necessary thrust to blast off. Prithvi is the first missile to be developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme and has two variants – Prithvi-II for the Air Force and Dhanush for the Navy.

The Hindu

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