India test firing its new indigenously developed long-range cruise missile Nirbhay 1303131.

Nirbhay (Fearless) was successfully launched today at 11.50 a. m. from launch complex at Chandipur off the coast of Odisha, meeting the basic mission objectives successfully," said Ravi Gupta, the spokesperson for the state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization, which developed the missile.

Nirbhay is a long range, subsonic cruise missile being developed in India by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The missile which can carry nuclear wwarheads was destroyed in mid-air after it deviated from its flight path along the cost in Bay of Bengal.

The two-stage missile blasted off from the eastern state of Orissa but the test flight was halted prematurely to ‘ensure coastal safety’, the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.

"The missile flew for around 200 km, proving 90% of the critical technologies. We will analyze what went wrong, undertake corrective action and then conduct another test,"said DRDO source.

With a range of 1,000 kilometres, the Nirbhay subsonic missile is intended to cruise like an aircraft and can be launched from land, sea and air, defence officials said. The surface-to-surface missile is fitted with a turbojet engine and is capable of flying at low altitudes to avoid detection.