Fact Check: Video Of Russian Proto-M Missile Explosion Passed Off As Failure Of Indian Test Missile
The Logical Indian Crew

Fact Check: Video Of Russian Proto-M Missile Explosion Passed Off As Failure Of Indian Test Missile

The Logical Indian Fact check team investigates the claim that a viral video shows a failed flight test of India’s Missile.

A video apparently showing an Indian test missile explosion is being circulated on social media.

"Very unfortunate day for Indian military, Today's India has failed in testing cruise missile," reads the caption of one such post.

At the time of writing this report, the tweet was shared over 1,500 times and was viewed over 50,000 times.


The viral video is being circulated in the backdrop of a flight test of the Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) system which was conducted from Wheeler Island, off the coast of Odisha, on October 5.

The video has been shared extensively on Twitter and Facebook.



Claim:

Video shows a failed flight test of India's Missile.

Fact Check:

The claim is false. A Google Reverse Image search was done by breaking the video into individual frames using publicly available tools such as InVid. This led to the same video on YouTube which was uploaded back in 2013.

"More Videos Of The Russian Proton M Launch Failure And Explosion With Three GLONASS Satellites," reads the title of the video.

A keyword search based on this led to an article by 'Russia Today (RT)' published on July 10, 2013, that said that an installation blunder might have caused a Russian Proton-M rocket to crash shortly after takeoff. The sensors were installed upside down which had sent the rocket plummeting back to Earth, destroying three navigation satellites and $1.3 billion of high-tech equipment.


India's Missile Test

As per the press statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, the SMART system was "successfully flight-tested on October 5, at 11.45 am, from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. All the mission objectives, including missile flight up to the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, the release of torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM) have been met perfectly."

However, on October 11, a flight-test of the Nirbhay land-attack cruise missile failed due to a technical snag off the Odisha coast. Times of India reported that the test failed following the initial launch since requisite power could not be attained by the engine in the second stage.

Therefore an unrelated, old video of the Russian Proton M Launch failure is being shared as a failed flight test of India's Missile.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: Fact Check: Is 'Gulfam' From UP's Saharanpur The Artist Behind These Wood Carvings?

Contributors Suggest Correction
Writer : Aditi Chattopadhyay
,
Editor : Bharat Nayak
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Creatives : Rajath

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