The Indian-made Dhanus (Bow), with a strike range of 250 kilometers, was test-fired from naval ship INS Subhadra at around 12:20 pm, in the Bay of Bengal off the state of Orissa, sources said.

The Indian defence sources said the Dhanus is a naval variant of India's surface-to-surface Prithvi (earth) II missile.

The test was the third by India in recent weeks. On October 27 it fired off a naval version of its Prithivi III while on November 3 it conducted a successful test of supersonic cruise missile BrahMos.

India's nuclear rival, Pakistan, test-fired its own nuclear-capable missile Hatf V (Ghauri), with a range of 1,500 kilometres (932 miles), on October 12.

Both countries have continued to test missiles routinely despite an ongoing peace process.

Sunday's test was the third trial of Dhanus. The missiles debut trial on April 11, 2000 was not all that successful but its second test-fire, on September 21, 2001, went off smoothly.

The missile has a payload of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds), is 8.56 meters (28 feet) long and one meter (3.2 feet) wide and has a launch weight of 4,600 kilograms (10,000 pounds), the sources said. It can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads and uses a single-stage liquid propellant engine.

Dhanus is part of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) which was launched in 1983 to develop and produce a wide range of missiles for surface-to-surface and surface-to-air roles.

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