The call from T N Seshan, the then cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, relayed the pressure by the United States and NATO to delay the launch.
India successfully testfired its indigenously developed, nuclear-capable, ballistic missile Prithvi-II from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, about 15 km from Balasore off the Orissa coast, on Friday.
The recommended sites are in river Budhabalanga (12 km in Balasore-Chandipur stretch), Kharasuan (14 km in Rajnagar-Aul stretch, 24 km in Aul-Aetpur stretch and 25 km in Singpur-Aul stretch) and 9 km stretch in Bhalabadrapur-Nuagarh portion of river Daya.
India on Sunday test-fired the 290-km range BrahMos cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off the Orissa coast. "It was a user's trial by the defence forces," said a Defence Research and Development Organisation official. "User's trial of BrahMos conducted by the Indian Army was successful," ITR Director S P Dash said after the missile blasted off from a mobile launcher at nearly 11.35 am from the launch complex-3 of the test range.
Indigenously developed and beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile 'Astra' was on Monday test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Orissa.
Lakshya is a sub-sonic, re-usable aerial target system, which is remote controlled from the ground and is designed to train both airborne and air-defence pilots.
Designed to be a quick reaction missile, it has a strike range of 25 km to 30 km.
'Lakshya' had been tested several times earlier and to further check its engine viability and duration enhancement, today's test was undertaken from the launch complex-2 of the ITR, defence sources said, adding that, "It is a routine trial." 'Lakshya', a sub-sonic, re-usable aerial target system, is remote controlled from the ground and designed to impart training to both air-borne and air defence pilots.
The unguided rocket system is meant to neutralise bigger geographical area with rapid salvo of rockets. With a range of 40 km, 'Pinaka' can fire salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds. One salvo each (12 rockets) from the battery of six launchers can neutralise at a time a target area of 3.9 sq km.
The missile, which is about nine metres in length and one metre in width, can carry conventional as well as nuclear warheads and has a range of 350 kilometres.
The Prithvi-II missile is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines.
India, on Wednesday, successfully test fired a version of nuclear-capable 'Prithvi-II' ballistic missile with a range of 350 kms from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur,off the Orissa coast.
India on Friday successfully test-fired its indigenously-developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II and Dhanush ballistic missiles in separate trials, boosting the armed forces' operational readiness.
The first round of tests was conducted on Thursday.
The multi-target missile with a range of 25 km was test-fired at 1430 IST, they added.
The missiles were randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed strategic force command and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation as part of training exercise, a defence scientist said.
The anti-aircraft missile, capable of ducking radar eyes and attacking enemy targets up to 110 km, was test fired from launch pad number 2 of the ITR complex at about 11.47 am, defence sources said. The test was conducted after an analysis of the data generated from yesterday's flight trial in order to further validate all major parameters, they said.
India's indigenously developed, beyond visual range air-to-air missile 'Astra' was successfully test-fired on Saturday from the integrated test range at Chandipur in Orissa.The single stage, solid fuelled 'Astra' missile "is more advanced in its category than the contemporary BVR missiles and it is capable of engaging and destroying highly manoeuvrable supersonic aerial targets," the source added.
Another test launching of the missile is slated to be taken up later during the day.
Two medium-range surface-to-air missiles 'Akash' were successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea, about 15 km from Balasore.
"The success of the mission assumes significance as DRDO scientists were able to 'continuously track the missile and feed its trajectory into computers to launch its interception."
The state-of-the-art indigenous missile targeting an UAV 'Banshee', was fired from the launch complex-III of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore on Tuesday afternoon.
"The Prithvi missile was test-fired as part of a user's trial by the Indian Army and the test was successful," defence sources said. The 8.56 metre-long and one metre thick Prithvi missile can carry a pay load of 1000 kg explosives.
Prithvi has already been inducted into the Army and Wednesday's test involved one of the products picked up at random from the assembly line.
The PTA, developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore, is designed to perform discreet aerial reconnaissance of battlefield and target acquisition.
Trishul is a short-range, quick-reaction, all-weather, surface-to-air missile designed to counter a low-level attack.
India successfully tested the advanced version of Lakhsya, the indigenously built Pilotless Target Aircraft from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea, about 15 km from Balasore, for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.
The 5.6-m-long missile, weighing about 700 kg, was blasted off at 1410 IST from the ITR. It targeted a flying "para barrel" released from a fighter aircraft.
The Pilotless Target Aircraft Lakshya was used as a support system providing the target for the exercise, defence sources said.
This is the third test firing of the missile in the last five days, the sources said.
The indigenously developed pilot-less target aircraft was test-fired from the Chandipur Intermediate Test Range.
Defence sources said two rounds of 'Pinaka' were test fired between 1215 IST and 1245 IST.
The ground range instrumentation from ITR and the radar located near the impact point tracked the missile trajectory and monitored all the parameters from launch, the source said.
As Prithvi has gone into production, one of the products from the assembly line picked up at random might be test-fired.
The test launch was conducted from INS Subhadra, about 40 nautical miles from Chandipur in the sea, at around 2.30 pm, sources said.
After a vertical lift-off at 12.15 pm from launch pad number three at the ITR, 15 km from Balasore, the surface-to-surface missile rose into the sky leaving behind a ribbon of white smoke, defence sources said.
Defence sources said the missile, which was launched from a mobile launcher at 3.15 pm, successfully hit a target attached to a pilotless target aircraft.
With a launch weight of 4.6 tonne which included payload of one tonne, Prithvi can use both solid as well as liquid propellant.
Trishul has triple battlefield role for the army, air force and navy and can engage targets like aircraft and helicopters by using its radar command-to-line-of-sight guidance.
The sleek missile was fired from a mobile launcher at about 4.15 pm. It was targeted at a para-barrel dropped from a chopper, the sources said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances