India flight-tests its indigenous cruise missile successfully

New Delhi: India successfully flight-tested an Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile (ITCM) on Thursday, which is equipped with advanced avionics and software to ensure better and more reliable performance, IANS reported.

The flight of the missile was also monitored from the Su-30-Mk-I aircraft of the Indian Air Force.

The Ministry of Defence informed on Thursday that the test was conducted from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha on April 18, 2024.

During the test, all subsystems performed as per expectation. The missile performance was monitored by several Range Sensors like Radar, Electro-Optical Tracking System (EOTS) and Telemetry deployed by ITR at different locations to ensure complete coverage of the flight path.

The missile followed the desired path using waypoint navigation and demonstrated very low-altitude sea-skimming flight. This successful flight test has also established the reliable performance of the indigenous propulsion system developed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), Bengaluru.

The missile is developed by Bengaluru-based DRDO laboratory Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) along with contributions from other laboratories and Indian industries. The test was carried out in the presence of many senior scientists from various DRDO laboratories along with representatives from the production partner.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful flight test of the ITCM and stated that the successful development of indigenous long-range subsonic cruise missiles powered by indigenous propulsion is a major milestone. DRDO Chairman Dr Samir V. Kamat congratulated the entire team of DRDO on the successful conduct of the ITCM launch.