India successfully flight-tests indigenous tech cruise missile

India successfully flight-tests indigenous tech cruise missile India on Thursday successfully flight-tested the indigenous technology cruise missile (ITCM) from the integrated test range at Chandipur off the coast of Odisha, the DRDO said.

During the test, all subsystems performed as per expectation. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful test flight of the ITCM.

He said the successful development of the indigenous long-range subsonic cruise missile powered by indigenous propulsion is a major milestone for Indian defence R&D.

DRDO officials said the performance of the missile was monitored by several Range Sensors such as Radar, Electro Optical Tracking System (EOTS) and Telemetry deployed by the Integrated Test Range at various locations to ensure complete coverage of the flight path.

The flight of the missile was also monitored from the Su-30-Mk-I aircraft of the Indian Air Force, they said. “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 Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), Bengaluru,” the DRDO officials said in a release.

The missile is developed by Bengaluru-based DRDO laboratory Aeronautical Development Establishment along with contributions from other laboratories and Indian industries, it said.

The test was witnessed by many senior scientists from various DRDO laboratories along with the representatives from the production partner.