Bhubaneswar: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Wednesday successfully flight tested the enhanced Pinaka rocket from Integrated Test Range in Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.
Development of enhanced Pinaka system was taken up to achieve longer range performance compared to earlier design with reduced length.
The design and development has been carried out by Pune-based DRDO laboratories, namely Armament Research and Development Establishment, ARDE and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, HEMRL.
A total of six rockets were launched in quick succession and the tests met complete mission objectives, the DRDO said.
Rockets tested have been manufactured by Nagpur-based Economic Explosives Limited, to whom the technology has been transferred.
All the flight articles were tracked by Range instruments such as telemetry, radar and Electro Optical Tracking Systems which confirmed the flight performance.
Enhanced version of the Pinaka rocket would replace the existing Pinaka Mk-I rockets which are currently under production, it said.
The DRDO had last year tested guided Pinaka rocket system which has a range of 70-90 km, but this improved version of Mk-1, can fill a critical gap of hitting targets that are not so far away.
The guided Pinaka is more of a missile that can be pin-pointed on the target.
