New Delhi: The Indian armed forces are prepared to place orders for two more Pralay ballistic missiles, at a cost of more than Rs 7,500 crore, in a significant step towards building a powerful rocket force to counter the danger from the northern borders.
This step was taken after the Defence Ministry approved one unit of these missiles for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in December 2022.
“Two more units of the Pralay ballistic missiles are going to be acquired for the defence forces, which are on their way towards creating a Rocket force including assets of all three forces,” ANI quoted officials as saying.
The proposal for the acquisition of these Pralay ballistic missiles for the Indian Army is at an advanced stage and may be cleared soon.
The Pralay ballistic missile has a range of 150 km to 500 km and is very challenging for the enemy’s interceptor missiles to hit.
Efforts are reportedly being made to extend the range of the Pralay missiles range by another few hundred kilometres in order to provide more powerful capacity to the Indian armed forces.
Since both China and Pakistan possess ballistic missiles for tactical purposes, the Pralay is expected to give a crucial boost to the Indian armed forces.
The Pralay missile, which has been created by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is reportedly still being developed. The development of the Pralay missile system began in about 2015, and the late Gen. Bipin Rawat, who served as Chief of Army Staff, gave it a boost. The rocket underwent two successful tests on separate days last year, on December 21 and 22, 2021.
Pralay, a quasi-ballistic surface-to-surface missile, was created in a way that makes it immune to interceptor missiles. It has the capacity to alter its course after flying a specific distance in midair.
The missile guidance system has integrated avionics and cutting-edge navigation. The Indian Air Force would be the first to receive the missile, and then the Indian Army.