DRDO successfully test fires first-of-its-kind naval anti-ship missile

India has successfully test fired a first-of-its-kind naval anti-ship missile from Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

The trials carried out on Tuesday demonstrated the missile's capability against ship targets, the defence ministry said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy for successfully conducting the flight tests of the missile.

The DRDO and the Navy carried out successful flight-trials of first-of-its-kind Naval Anti-Ship missile (NASM-SR) from Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, the ministry said.

"The trials demonstrated the missile's capability against ship targets while launched from an Indian Naval Seaking helicopter," the ministry said.

It said the "trials have proven the missile's Man-in-Loop feature and scored a direct hit on a small ship target in sea-skimming mode at its maximum range."  The missile uses an indigenous imaging infra-red seeker for terminal guidance.

The mission also has demonstrated the high bandwidth two way datalink system, which is used to transmit the seeker live images back to the pilot for in-flight retargeting, the ministry said in a statement.

The missile has been developed by different labs of DRDO including Research Centre Imarat, Defence Research and Development Laboratory, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory and Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory.