India's first cruise missile 'Nirbhay' was blown up mid-way
after it was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at
Chandipur in Balasore district of Odisha on Tuesday. Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said that the
Nirbhay missile was terminated midway after it deviated.
However, they said it was a mixed success as the successful
take-off met its objectives. Nirbhay is a medium range subsonic
cruise missile developed by the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO). It has been under development since 2007.
Sources said that 453 families residing within a two kilometre
radius of the launch venue at ITR were temporarily evacuated to
nearby shelters during the test-fire as precautionary measure.
The families were compensated for the evacuation. Weighing 1,000
kilograms, measuring 6 metres in length and 0.52 metres in
diameter, the cruise missile was suppose to have a range of
1,000 kilometres. Nirbhay is an all-weather cruise missile with
high accuracy, stealth features a