Pralay during a test-firing. (Photo: Defence ministry)
New Delhi: The defence ministry has given its go-ahead for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army to procure 120 “Pralay” short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, various media outlets citing defence sources reported. These missiles will carry conventional warheads and will be deployed along the line of actual control (LAC) with China and the international border (IB) and line of control (LoC) with Pakistan.
According to some of those reports, the Air Force will be the first to get it followed by the Army.
The current arsenal of ballistic missiles in India’s arsenal, like the Agni and Prithvi missiles, are for nuclear deterrence under command and control the triservice-composed Strategic Forces Command, which reports directly to the Prime Minister’s Office. Since India has a “no first use” nuclear policy, Pralay, with conventional warheads, will fill in the necessity of having a non-nuclear ballistic missile that can be used as first strike during a war.
Pralay, which has a range of 120–500 kilometres and can be carried and fired from road-based canisters mounted on 8 x 8 BEML-Tatra special trucks, has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization. The DRDO started its development in 2015 and the armed forces successfully tested it twice in 2021.
The missile can change its trajectory during flight making it difficult for an adversary to intercept it. It can travel at 1,200 kilometres per hour (Mach 1) to 1,960 kilometres per hour (Mach 1.6) It uses the DRDO-developed state-of-the-art fused silica Radar-dome (RADOME) for locating its target, making it a highly accurate all-weather missile. Its accuracy is said to be less than 10 metres (33 feet) in circular error probability.
