New Delhi: Looking to add more strategic and tactical options to the country's missile inventory, India's Defence and Research Development Organisation (DRDO) will test the 1000-km range high sub-sonic, land attack cruise missile 'Nirbhay' early next year.

Nirbhay is a Sanskrit word which denotes 'Fearless'.

According to the DRDO, Nirbhay will be a terrain hugging, stealthy missile capable of delivering a variety of warheads as per mission requirements. It is not clear if the missile will be nuclear capable.

"We are looking to test-fire the new sub-sonic cruise missile in the first quarter of 2012. The Nirbhay will be a new state-of-the-art missile," DRDO officials told news agencies.

The missile is being developed by the Advanced Systems Laboratory under the DRDO.

Presently, systems integration work is under way.

The missile will be capable of being launched from a variety of land, naval and air platforms and will supplement the larger Indian/Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.

With a planned launch weight of around 1,000kg (2,200lb), the Nirbhay will use a terrain-following navigation system to reach its target at distances up to 1,000km (540nm).

A transporter erector launch vehicle is being developed for the ground-launched version of the cruise missile by the DRDO's Pune-based Research and Development Establishment (Engineering).

An air-launched derivative of the Nirbhay, mounted on the Indian Air Force's Su-30MKI would provide long-range-and potentially strategic-strike capability. The Su-30MKI has an operating range of 3,000 km.

If an air-launched derivative is successfully developed it would become the third indigenous weapon system to equip the Su-30MKI, joining the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile and the Astra medium-range air-to-air missile.

According to defence officials, an air-launched variant of the subsonic Nirbhay was in the initial stages.

The Nirbhay will in all probability adopt a conventional cruise missile configuration with a flip-out, mid-body wing and cruciform tail surfaces. The turbofan engine will most likely will be recessed in the airframe body if the weapon is to be canister-launch-capable.

As for the engine India has struck a deal with Russia for transfer of technology of the Russian Saturn 36MT engine.

New Delhi also has a deal with Moscow which allows it access to the high-precision signal of Moscow's Glonass satellite navigation system.

With its range of 1,000 km, the missile will have a longer reach than Pakistan's Hatf-7 Babur missile, which claims to have a range of 700 km.