On the heels of Saturday's Shourya missile test, India tests the Prithvi P-II missile

As the DRDO works on a new generation of solid-fuel short-range ballistic missiles, the liquid-fuel Prithvi P-II seems slated to remain in service for a longish while, serving as the backbone of India's tactical missile arsenal.

The DRDO press release, describing Monday's Prithvi missile test, is pasted below:

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT TEST OF PRITHVI (P-II)

DRDO developed surface to surface strategic PRITHVI (P-II) Missile was successfully flight tested at 9 A.M today i.e. 26th September 2011, from Launch Complex-III, ITR, Chandipur, Balasore District in Orissa. The launch was carried out by the Armed Forces as a part of regular training exercises.

PRITHVI-II, the first indigenous surface to surface strategic Missile, capable of attacking targets at ranges of 350 kms, reached the predefined target in the Bay of Bengal with a very high accuracy of better than 10 meters. All the Radars, Electro optical systems located along the coast have tracked and monitored all the parameters of the Missile throughout the flight path. An Indian Naval ship located near the target witnessed the final event.

The entire launch operations were carried out by the Armed Forces and monitored by the Scientists of DRDO. The flight test of the PRITHVI-II Missile met all the Mission objectives and was perfect like text book launch. PRITHVI-II Missile has been successfully flight tested number of times as part of the training exercise. Today’s launch again proves the reliable flight testing of PRITHVI. Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri Dr. V.K Saraswat congratulated all the scientists and other employees of DRDO and the Armed Forces for the successful flight test of PRITHVI (P-II).