New Delhi, Nov 16 (IANS): India will test its indigenously developed Nirbhay subsonic cruise missile in early 2012, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief V.K. Saraswat said Wednesday.
At a press conference here, Saraswat said the Nirbhay missile was going through its final integration stage.
"It is going through the final integration stage now. We will test the missile early next year," he said.
Nirbhay will be the second cruise missile from India's own defence research stable, with it having successfully designed and developed the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile jointly with Russia and inducting it into its armed forces.
BrahMos can attain cruise speeds of up to 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound. Nirbhay, being a subsonic cruise missile, attains speeds less than 1 Mach or 1,225 kmph.