Shourya, a new addition to Indian armoury

India successfully test-fired Wednesday a surface-to-surface ballistic missile ‘Shourya’ with a range of 600 km from land of the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) K-15 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea, about 15 kms from Balasore, Orissa.

Hailing the test flight of Shourya as “successful,” the DRDO said, “The developmental flight trial of Shourya missile system is a part of the ongoing technology development work undertaken by it.”

“The missile was test fired from a 30-40 feet deep pit with in-built canister designed specifically for the purpose. There was no water in the pit,” the sources said.

The medium range two-stage missile, which can carry conventional warheads with a payload up to 1 tonne, has the capability to penetrate deep inside China and Pakistan.

The sleek missile, 10 metre in length and about half-a-metre in width, has solid propellant. The use of solid propellant gives the missile a longer service-life and shorter launch time compared to the missile uses liquid propellant.

The missile has a unique feature of simplicity of operation and maintenance. It can be easily handled, transported and stored within the canister for longer shelf life, alike the Brahmos and Supersonic cruise missile.

The high maneuverability of the missile makes it less vulnerable to available anti-missile defence systems.

The missile had earlier undergone four tests from the underwater platform.

The launch of Shourya has come nearly nine months after India had tested the 'Sagarika' missile under the K-15 project this February off the coast of Visakhapatnam from a pontoon, replica of a submarine, especially designed and developed for testing of missiles.