Prithvi (missile)
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Prithvi () is a tactical surface-to-surface short-range
ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...
(SRBM) developed by the
Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, head ...
(DRDO) of India under the
Integrated Guided Missile Development Program The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) was an Indian Ministry of Defence programme for the research and development of the comprehensive range of missiles. The programme was managed by the Defence Research and Development ...
(IGMDP). It is deployed by India's Strategic Forces Command.


Development and history

The Government of India launched the
Integrated Guided Missile Development Program The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) was an Indian Ministry of Defence programme for the research and development of the comprehensive range of missiles. The programme was managed by the Defence Research and Development ...
in 1983 to achieve self-sufficiency in the development and production of wide range of
ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...
s,
surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...
s etc. Prithvi was the first missile to be developed under the program. DRDO attempted to build a surface-to-air missile under
Project Devil Project Devil was one of two early liquid-fueled missile projects developed by India, along with Project Valiant, in the 1970s. The goal of Project Devil was to produce a short-range surface-to-surface missile. Although discontinued in 1980 with ...
. Variants make use of either liquid or both liquid and solid fuels. Developed as a battlefield missile, it could carry a nuclear warhead in its role as a
tactical nuclear weapon A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territ ...
. The aerodynamic characterization research was conducted at the National Aerospace Laboratories' 1.2m Trisonic Wind Tunnel Facility.


Variants

The Prithvi missile project encompassed developing three variants for use by the
Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...
,
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...
and the
Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...
. The initial project framework of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program outlines the variants in the following manner. *Prithvi I (SS-150) – Army version ''( range with a payload of )'' *Prithvi II (SS-250) – Air Force version ''('' ''range with a payload of )'' *Prithvi III (SS-350) – Naval version ''( range with a payload of )''


Description


Prithvi I

Prithvi I is a single-stage liquid-fuelled surface-to-surface ballistic missile having a maximum warhead mounting capability of 1,000 kg, with a range of . It has an accuracy of and can be launched from
transporter erector launcher A transporter erector launcher (TEL) is a missile vehicle with an integrated tractor unit that can transport, elevate to a firing position and launch one or more rockets or missiles. History Such vehicles exist for both surface-to-air missiles ...
s. This class of Prithvi missile was inducted into the
Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...
in 1994. As per DRDO's former chief Avinash Chander, the tactical 150 km-range Prithvi missile will be replaced with the Prahaar missile, which is more capable and has more accuracy. According to Chander, the Prithvi I missiles withdrawn from service would be upgraded to be used for longer ranges. As per reports, in the 1990s, 75 missiles were initially ordered and the order was subsequently increased. The missiles are generally paired with conventional warheads but can be equipped with nuclear warheads as well. The
units Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, histo ...
under the Regiment of Artillery, that are equipped with these missiles includes # 222 Missile Group # 333 Missile Group (
Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...
under XI Corps) # 444 Missile Group # 555 Missile Group


Prithvi II

Prithvi II is a single-stage liquid-fuelled missile. Initially, it was developed for an extended range of and maximum warhead capacity of 500 kg. This was gradually enhanced to a range of and 500–1000 kg payload. It was developed with the
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...
being the primary user. It was first test-fired on 27 January 1996 and the developmental trials were completed in 2004. In a test, the missile was launched with an extended range of and had improved navigation due to an improvement in
inertial navigation system An inertial navigation system (INS; also inertial guidance system, inertial instrument) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors (gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning th ...
. The missile features measures to deceive
anti-ballistic missile An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to Missile defense, destroy in-flight ballistic missiles. They achieve this explosively (chemical or nuclear), or via hit-to-kill Kinetic projectile, kinetic vehicles, which ma ...
s. The missile was inducted into India's Strategic Forces Command in 2003. After a failed test on 24 September 2010, two more missiles aimed at two different targets were launched on 22 December 2010 and were successful. According to reports, the range has been increased to and the payload capacity now ranges between 500 – 1000 kg. On 2 June, India successfully test-fired another Prithvi-II missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha at 9:50 am. On 20 November 2019, Strategic Forces Command carried out 2 night user trials of Prithvi-II missiles as part of its annual training cycle to test the combat readiness of its missile forces. Two Prithvi-II tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles were test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) on
Abdul Kalam Island Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, is an island off the coast of Odisha, India, approximately east of the state capital Bhubaneswar. The island was originally named after English commandant Lieutenant Hugh Wheeler. On ...
in the
Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...
off the coast of Odisha, according to government sources cited in local media reports. The trial of the surface-to-surface missile with a strike range of 350 km was carried out from a mobile launcher from Launch Complex III of the ITR between 7:00 pm and 7:15 pm. On 4 December 2019, another night trial was conducted off Odisha coast at 07:48 pm from Launch Complex III of Integrated Test Range in Chandipur. The Strategic Forces Command conducted night trial of Prithvi II in full operational configuration from Launch Complex III of Integrated Test Range on 23 September 2020.


Prithvi III

Prithvi III is a two-stage surface-to-surface missile. The first stage is solid fueled with a 16 metric ton force (157 kN) thrust motor. The second stage is liquid-fuelled. The missile can carry a 1,000 kg warhead to a distance of and a 500 kg warhead to a distance of and a 250 kg warhead up to a distance of . Prithvi III was first tested in 2000 from , a . The missile was launched from the updated reinforced helicopter deck of the vessel. The first flight test of the variant was only partially successful. The full operational testing was completed in 2004.


Dhanush (missile)

Dhanush () is a variant of the surface-to-surface or ship-to-ship Prithvi III missile for the Indian Navy. It is capable of carrying both conventional as well as nuclear warheads with pay-load capacity of 500 kg-1000 kg and can strike targets in the maximum range of . Dhanush is a system consisting of a stabilization platform and the missile. It is a customized version of the Prithvi and is certified for sea worthiness. Dhanush has to be launched from a hydraulically stabilized launch pad. Its low range acts against it and thus it is seen as a weapon either to be used to destroy an
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
or an enemy port. The Dhanush missile can be used as an anti-ship weapon as well as for destroying land targets depending on the range. The missile has been tested from surface ships of the navy many times.


Trial history

A new variant of the Prithvi-III missile, named
Dhanush Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja (born 28 July 1983), known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, lyricist and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil cinema. Having starred in Dhanush filmography, 50 films over his car ...
, was test fired from the ''Rajput'' in March 2007 and successfully hit a land-based target. The missile was successfully tested-fired from INS ''Subhadra'', which was anchored about offshore from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur on 13 December 2009. It was the sixth test of the missile. The missile was test-fired successfully on 5 October 2012, on 23 November 2013, 9 April 2015, and 24 November 2015India test fires ship-based nuclear-capable missile
SpaceDaily.com, 25 November 2015
from INS Subhadra in the
Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...
off the
Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...
coast. Dhanush was again tested on 26 November 2015 from INS ''Subhadra'' in the Bay of Bengal. A successful user trial was conducted from a naval ship on 23 February 2018 by the Strategic Forces Command off the Odisha coast.


See also


Other Indian missile projects

*
Project Devil Project Devil was one of two early liquid-fueled missile projects developed by India, along with Project Valiant, in the 1970s. The goal of Project Devil was to produce a short-range surface-to-surface missile. Although discontinued in 1980 with ...
* SS-45 Missile * Project Valiant *
Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect India from ballistic missile attacks. It was launched in 1999 after the Kargil War by the Atal B ...
* K Missile family


Comparable missiles

* * * * * * * * * * *


References


External links


CSIS Missile Threat - Prithvi I/II/III

CSIS Missile Threat - Dhanush
Technical:
DRDO Technology Focus : Warhead for Missiles, Torpedoes and Rockets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prithvi (Missile) Short-range ballistic missiles Ballistic missiles of India Defence Research and Development Organisation Military equipment introduced in the 1990s