India successfully tests N-capable Prithvi II, Dhanush missiles

Image Source: ACIG.org

BALASORE: India today successfully test-fired indigenously developed ballistic missiles 'Prithvi II' and 'Dhanush' from different locations off the Orissa coast, adding more firepower to the armed forces.

"The tests were successful. Both the missiles test-fired early today met all the parameters," the director of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, S P Dash, told PTI.

While the 'Prithvi II' was test-fired from complex-3 of ITR Chandipur, 15 km from here, from a mobile launcher at around 0548 hours, the 'Dhanush' was fired from INS-Subhadra in the Bay of Bengal near Puri at around 0544 hours by the Navy personnel as part of user training exercise.

The test firing of the short-range, surface-to-surface 'Prithvi II' ballistic missile having a range of 295 km, which has already been inducted into the armed forces, was a user trial by the Army.

The sleek missile is "handled by the strategic force command", the sources said.

Prithvi, the first ballistic missile developed under the country's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), has the capability to carry 500 kg of warhead and has liquid propulsion twine engine.

With a nine-metre length and one-metre diameter, Prithvi II uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory and reach the targets with a few metre accuracy.

The entire trajectory of today's trial was tracked down by a battery of sophisticated radars and an electro-optic telemetry stations were positioned in different locations for post-launch analysis, defence sources said.

The nuclear-capable 'Dhanush', the naval version of Prithvi, followed the pre-designated trajectory with text-book precision and two naval ships located near the target have tracked the splash, sources said.

The 350-km range missile will give the Navy the capability to attack enemy targets with great precision.

The sophisticated radar systems located along the coast monitored its entire trajectory, the sources said.

The single stage missile, weighing six tonnes, is powered by liquid propellants.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-successfully-tests-N-capable-Prithvi-II-Dhanush-missiles/articleshow/5730413.cms

NEWS FLASH - Delhi High Court orders the Central Govt to grant permanent commission to women in all three wings of the armed forces

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Centre to grant permanent commission to women officers in all three wings of the armed forces.

A division bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and M P Garg ordered the defence forces to reinstate all the women officers who had approached the court seeking permanent commission and asked the government to provide all consequential benefit to them.

In its 32-page order, the bench directed the government to reinstate those officers as well as those who retired during the case.

The high court had on December 14 reserved its verdict on the petitions for a direction to the Centre for granting of permanent commission to serving women officers like their male counterparts in the armed forces.

Currently, women are inducted in the Army as officers under the Short Service Commission for a maximum period of 14 years whereas their male counterparts are eligible to receive permanent commission after five years.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Women-get-permanent-commission-in-armed-forces/articleshow/5675778.cms