PRALAY MISSILE

17th April, 2023 Defence

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Context

India is going to buy 250 more Pralay ballistic missiles for the services to strengthen them on the northern borders, further boosting the firepower of the defence forces.

Details

The move comes soon after the defence ministry cleared 120 of these weapon systems for the Air Force which cannot be intercepted by any enemy air defence system.
The use of Pralay tactical ballistic will be the first time in the history of the service, as ballistic missiles have been cleared by the government for use in tactical operations.

About Pralay Missile

Pralay, which has a range of 150 to 500 kilometres, is propelled by a solid-propellant rocket motor and other novel technologies.
It is an indigenous short-range ballistic surface-to-surface (SRBM) missile.
The missile will be India’s first tactical quasi-ballistic missile and will give the armed forces the capability to hit enemy positions and key installations in actual battlefield areas.
It is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of about 350 kg to 700 kg, which gives it a deadly punitive capability.
It can carry a high explosive preformed fragmentation warhead, penetration-cum-blast (PCB) and runaway denial penetration submunition (RDPS).

Rocket Force

Pralay, along with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile as well as the Smerch and indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel missile launchers, besides a few other systems that are being built, will form the crux of India’s planned Rocket Force — a concept that was envisaged by former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the late General Bipin Rawat.

Background

The Pralay missile project was sanctioned in 2015 and is a derivative of the Prahaar missile programme, which was first tested in 2011.
Pralay was formed through elements from multiple missile programmes that include the K-series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles and the ballistic defence shield programme.
The canisterised Pralay missile has been developed according to the specifications and requirement of the Army, which was looking to arm itself with a tactical conventional missile that could be used on the battlefield. Both China and Pakistan have tactical ballistic missiles.

What makes Pralay deadly?

The Indian missile can be compared to China’s Dong Feng 12 and the Russian Iskander missile that has been used in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
The US Army is in the process of increasing the range of a similar short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).

What are Ballistic Missiles?

Ballistic missiles are initially powered by a rocket or series of rockets in stages, but then follow an unpowered trajectory that arches upwards before descending to reach its intended target at high speed.

What are Short-Range Ballistic Missiles?

Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles that exit the Earth’s atmosphere, short-range ballistic missiles stay within it.

What are Quasi-Ballistic Missiles?

What makes Pralay deadly is that it is a quasi-ballistic weapon, which means that while it has a low trajectory and is largely ballistic, it can manoeuvre in flight. It has been designed to evade interceptor missiles.

About Prahaar Missile

Prahaar ("Strike") is an Indian solid-fuel road-mobile tactical ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Prahaar is expected to replace the Prithvi-I short-range ballistic missile in Indian service.
Prahaar is developed to provide a cost-effective, quick-reaction, all-weather, all-terrain, highly accurate battlefield support tactical weapon system.
This solid-fueled missile can be launched within 2–3 minutes without any preparation, providing significantly better reaction time than liquid-fueled Prithvi ballistic missiles and act as a gap filler in the 150 km range, between the Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher and Smerch MBRL in one end and the Prithvi ballistic missiles on the other.