The decision by the Defence Ministry to procure indigenous short-range ballistic surface-to-surface (SRBM) missile Pralay, a conventional weapon that has become ready for induction in just seven years, gives Indian military the heft to its war-fighting capabilities. A high-level meeting of the Defence Ministry cleared the acquisition of around 120 pralay missiles for the armed forces and their deployment along the borders. India now permits the use of ballistic missiles in tactical roles, therefore the acquisition of these ballistic missiles is considered a significant development for the nation.
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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. Pralay, along with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, 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. Sources in the defence establishment made it clear that only conventional missiles would come under the planned Rocket Force as and when it’s ready, while nuclear weapons would continue to be under the ambit of the Strategic Forces Command.
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 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.
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