'Nirbhay' missile scheduled to be test fired on Friday

India is ready for the second test fire of its indigenously developed sub-sonic long range cruise missile 'Nirbhay' from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur.

"Range co-ordination and installation of missile and its sub-system is near complete and the test fire may be taken up on Friday if everything goes as scheduled," said a scientist of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) associated with the project.

It would be the second developmental trial of the missile. The first test was conducted on March 12, 2013 from the same base. However, "the flight had to be terminated mid-way, as deviations were observed from its intended course," said an official.

India has with its arsenal 290 km range supersonic "BrahMos" cruise missile which is jointly developed by India and Russia. But 'Nirbhay' with long range capability is a different kind of missile being developed by the Aeronautical development Establishment (ADE), a DRDO lab in Bangalore.

Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features, the official said.