There's been some speculation over today's aborted Nirbhay subsconic cruise missile test. Here's the first official word on it from the MoD:
Long Range Subsonic tactical cruise missile [Nirbhay] was launched from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur at 11:38 hrs today. All initial critical operations: Booster ignition, Booster separation, Wing deployment and engine start were successfully executed and Nirbhay reached the desired cruise altitude. During 700 seconds of flight all the subsystems of Nirbhay cruise missile functioned satisfactorily and met all the desired functions. The mission was aborted after 700 seconds of flight.
Today's test was the Nirbhay's third. The weapon system had its first successful and complete test in October last year after an abortive debut test-firing in March 2013. It isn't clear yet if the technical snags that forced an abort today were the same that caused a flight deviation in the first test in 2013. The abort during the first test took place roughly 17 minutes into the flight. Today's abort took place after about 11.7 minutes. Will update this post when there's more detail in.