President congratulates DRDO on successful test-firing of Prithvi-II Missile

President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday congratulated the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on the successful test-firing of the indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II Missile.

In a message to Dr S. Christopher, Secretary, DRDO, the President said, "I extend my hearty congratulations to all those associated with the successful test-firing of the indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II Missile."

President Mukherjee said the nation is proud of this achievement made by the DRDO and looks upon the organization to take India into the ranks of the leading nations of the world in the field of defence programme.

"Kindly convey my greetings and felicitations to the members of your team of scientists, engineers, technologists and all others associated with this mission. I wish the DRDO continued success in the coming years," he added.

India successfully test fired its indigenously developed Prithvi-II ballistic missile from Odisha's Chandipur at 10.56 a.m. today.

Inducted into Indian armed forces in 2003, the Prithvi-II missile is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads.

In order to hit its target with precision, the missile uses advanced inertial guidance system with maneuvering trajectory.

As part of training exercise, the missile was randomly chosen from the production stock.

Its launch activities were taken care by specially formed strategic force command (SFC) and were monitored by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists.

Last year in May, Prithvi-II successfully test fired from the same test range.

The first missile to be developed by DRDO under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, Prithvi-II was inducted into India's armed forces in 2003.