India has successfully test-fired the short-range,
surface-to-surface guided ballistic missile 'Pralay' off the Odisha coast in Balasore.
The missile, launched from the APJ Abdul Kalam
Island around 10:30 am, met all the mission objectives.
A battery of tracking instruments monitored its trajectory along the coastline
and vital parameters of the missile were observed throughout the flight.
While India has many kinds of much longer-range missiles, the new missile is a unique asset.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why India's Pralay missile is a game-changer?
Let's get started
This video is sponsored by War Thunder, the most comprehensive military vehicle online game for PC,
PlayStation4 and Xbox One, in which you can go to battle on more than 1200 playable aircraft,
tanks, helicopters and ships from the 1930s to the 1990s.
The game has an amazing attention to detail and focuses on a realistic combat experience,
which is why knowing your vehicles and skill really makes a difference. It's easy to get into,
and all you need to play is nothing more but your mouse and keyboard or controller. Immerse
yourself in cross-platform combat with more than 20 million other military vehicle enthusiasts
from all over the world . Download and play War Thunder for free using the link in the description
below and also get a free bonus tank or aircraft or ship and three days of premium account.
Pralay is developed by DRDO or Defense Research and Development Organization.
A DRDO statement stated,
“The mission has met all its objectives. The new missile followed the desired quasi ballistic
trajectory and reached the designated target with high degree accuracy, validating the control,
guidance and mission algorithms. All the sub-systems performed satisfactorily”
The Indian MoD press statement read, “All the sub-systems performed satisfactorily.
All the sensors deployed near the impact point across the eastern coast,
including the down-range ships, tracked the missile trajectory and captured all the events,”
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Twitter,
"Congratulations to the DRDO and associated teams for the maiden development flight trial".
Pralay is a canisterized surface-to-surface
tactical short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) for battlefield use.
Pralay is a 'Hindi' word and means annihilation or devastation.
The missile is the amalgamation of technologies developed for the
exoatmospheric interceptor missile Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) from the
Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Program and Prahaar tactical missile.
The missile is powered by a solid-propellant rocket motor
The project to develop Pralay was sanctioned in March 2015 with a budget of ₹332.88 crores
(equivalent to ₹427 crores or US$57 million in 2020)
Currently, the only way for the Indian Army to strike targets beyond 100 km or about 60 miles
is BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. While the missile is deadly accurate,
it can carry a payload of only about 200 kg or 440 lbs and is a bit expensive.
Because of this, the Indian Army in recent times has felt the need for a missile
with a range of more than 150 km or about 100 miles that can also carry a larger payload.
Pralay has a range of 150 km to 500 km depending on the size of the warhead.
It has an accuracy of less than 10 meters.
The missile can carry 350 kg or around 800 lbs to 700 kg or 1600 lbs High Explosive
Preformed Fragmentation warhead or Penetration-Cum-Blast (PCB)
or Runway Denial Penetration Submunition (RDPS).
Each unit of Brahmos costs US$2.75 million, the Pralay is expected to cost 1/4 of this.
Pralay missile is comparable to China's Dongfeng 12 also known as M20 , Russian 9K720
Iskander missile and U.S. Army’s Precision Strike Missile or PrSM which is still under development.
Advance militaries like the US, Russia, Israel are developing and deploying
missile defense systems that can counter the ballistic missiles.
The idea is to knock out an incoming enemy missile with an
interceptor missile - it is like hitting a bullet with another bullet.
The enemy missile is continuously traced and the trajectory is fed to the battle station
which then launches interceptor missiles to knock out the incoming threats in mid-air.
Since ballistic missiles generally follow a predefined parabolic path,
the trajectory can be calculated somewhat in advance.
Pralay counters this by being Quasi Ballistic.
As told to a news agency ANI by a source, "Pralay is a quasi ballistic surface-to-surface
missile. The advanced missile has been developed in a way to able to defeat
interceptor missiles. It has the ability to change its path after covering a certain range midair"
Former DRDO scientist R.K. Gupta said, “Pralay is a game-changer”.
He added, “It will completely change
the tactical battlefield dynamics and India will have two conventional missiles with long-range.
The BrahMos will be a cruise option and this one will be the ballistic option,”
Cruise missiles and ballistic missiles have their own distinct advantages.
While cruise missiles have high agility, stealth and loitering capability,
ballistic missiles have the advantage of speed.
To reduce the chances of being taken down with a preemptive strike,
attention has been given to mobility.
Pralay can be launched from a mobile launcher, has a guidance system that
includes state-of-the-art navigation mechanisms and integrated avionics.
Pralay is mainly aimed at countering China.
Harry Harris, the former commander of U.S. Pacific Command
made come critical observations sometime ago.
In testimony submitted to Congress, he had stated, China is not a signatory of any treaty
like the INF Treaty between the US and Russia and used it to amass a large arsenal of missiles.
As per him, the Chinese Rocket Forces has more than 2,000 ballistic and cruise missiles,
almost 95% of which would violate the INF threat if China was a signature.
Pralay will eventually make in India's Rocket force
With Pralay, India is clearly sending a message to China.