| Dr
Avinash Chander, the country’s top defence scientist and missile man, observed
that “the missile maintained an accuracy better than 10 meters throughout
its path and covered a distance of more than 1000 km” and that the “successful
indigenous development of Nirbhay will fill a vital gap in the war fighting capabilities
of our armed forces.” Dr Chander is Director General DRDO (Defence Research
and Development Organisation), Secretary Department of Defence in the Ministry
of Defence (MoD) and also Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. Sources
told India Strategic
that there would be a few more tests to firmly establish its parameters and develop
it into four variants for land, air, sea and underwater deployment. By 2018, Nirbhay
should be with the Indian Forces.
Nirbhay is reported to have a range of 1,500
km, however, when asked about the range and payload, DRDO spokesman Dr Ravi Gupta
said he would not disclose details but pointed out that weight and range are a
matter of configuration also. “For instance, the air-launched version would
not need boosters and still the missile could go for a longer distance.”
There was a dummy payload in the current test. But this is a great development
in strengthening the country’s deterrence posture, he said pointing out that
Dr Chander was warmly congratulated by the scientists on Nirbhay’s success.
President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister
Arun Jaitley congratulated the DRDO team on Nirbhay’s success. Significantly,
15 waypoints – coordinates – were fed into Nirbhay programmed flight,
and as required, their number could be increased, enabling it to reach multiple
targets. Additionally, Nirbhay would fly at treetop heights to evade hostile radars. India
has a tri-Service Strategic Forces Command (SFC) to manage deployment of nuclear
and other missiles from land, air and sea, but the trigger is controlled by the
Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) chaired by the country’s Prime Minister.
There is a declared policy of No First Use (NFU) of nuclear weapons but that also
mandates massive punitive response in case of attack. This was the second
test of the Nirbhay missile. The first, in March 2013, had to be terminated for
safety reasons due to a component malfunction in its intertial guidance system
and its deviation from the designated flight path. But it did achieve most of
the mission objectives and helped prepare for the second test. Various systems
were then reviewed by experts, some components replaced and reintegrated with
software, and that led to textbook success in the second launch. The missile is
officially described as “long range” by the DRDO which has actually
added several feathers to its crown in successfully developing a number of missiles.
DRDO also has a 50.5: 49.5 partnership with a Russian company for the supersonic
BrahMos cruise missile but as per the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR),
to which Russia is a signatory – but India does not – it is non-nuclear
with a limited range of up to 300 km and maximum weight of 500 kg. India
is free to develop indigenous nuclear capability and delivery modules, and that
is how, DRDO has been supported by successive governments right from Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi’s time. India’s nuclear and space programmes are directly
controlled by the Prime Minister’s Office while for missiles, DRDO reports
to the Defence Minister. Prime Minister Modi’s Government is encouraging
the country’s defence scientists. Dr Gupta said the missile was launched
from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Balasore in India’s eastern state
of Orissa and had “a perfect flight achieving all the mission objectives.” Nirbhay
was powered by a solid rocket motor booster developed by the Advanced Systems
Laboratory (ASL) and fired from a mobile launcher specifically designed for by
the Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (VRDE). “As it
achieved designated altitude and velocity, the booster motor got separated, the
turbofan engine automatically switched on taking over the further propulsion and
the wings opened up by the commands generated by the onboard computer (OBC) stabilising
the flight. Guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system indigenously
developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI) the ‘Nirbhay’ continued its
flight that lasted a little over one hour and 10 minutes”, he said. Throughout
its path, the missile was tracked with the help of ground based radars and its
health parameters were monitored by indigenous telemetry stations by a team of
professionals from ITR and LRDE (Electronics & Radar Development Establishment).
Additionally, the performance of Nirbhay was closely watched by an Indian Air
Force aircraft. Director ADE P Srikumar led the launch operations. The launch
preparations were planned and supervised by the Nirbhay Project Director Vasanth
Sastri. | 
