Boost For Indian Army’s Artillery Firepower: New, Lethal Guided Pinaka Rocket To Be Ready Soon, Will Have Double The Original Range

The guided version of the Pinaka rocket, which has been in development for a few years now, is nearing completion, a report in the Indian Express says.

According to the report, this new version of the Pinaka long-range artillery will have almost double the original range.

While the in Pinaka Mark I rockets, currently in service with the Indian Army, have a range of 37.5 km, the new guided version of the Pinaka rocket will have nearly twice the range — 75 to 80 km.

The guided version of Pinaka can be used for hitting enemy targets with pinpoint accuracy while the unguided, free-flight version currently that currently equip Pinaka regiments in the Army can only be used for area targets — enemy positions, equipment and troops spread out across 500 metres.

Multi-barrelled rocket launcher (MBRL) systems such as Pinaka (Indian Army also uses Soviet-origin ‘Grad’ and ‘Smerch’ rocket systems) are used for hitting enemy positions before close-quarter infantry battles.

The high volume and accuracy of firepower that the Army can bring down on enemy positions by using guided Pinaka rockets will leave the enemy’s defenses heavily damaged, making the job of the attacking forces easier.

A Pinaka launcher has 12 tubes. All the 12 rockets in these tubes can be launched in 44 seconds. Each of these rockets can deliver 100 kilograms of high explosive onto its target.

Given that each battery of Pinaka has six launchers, it can turn an enemy position into rubble and smoke with 7.2 tonnes of explosive in 44 seconds.

With guided Pinaka rockets, the Army can now now hit targets such as terror camps located up to 70 kilometers across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with high accuracy, eliminating the need of sending soldiers across the line for surgical strike (like the one conducted in 2017) in many cases.

The Guided Pinaka rocket has an on-board computer to calculate the trajectory it has to follow to reach the enemy position it has to pulverise.

The canards on the rocket body can be used to correct its path when it deviates.

The development of Pinaka MBRL system began in the late 1980s. During the Kargil war, the Indian Army deployed the weapon, still in development at the time, to hit positions taken by Pakistani soldiers on the heights.

A scientist from the Defence Research and Development Organisation, who was helping the Indian Army use the system in the battlefield, was injured during the war.

In August this year, the Ministry of Defence announced that the Army will raise six more regiments of Pinaka MBRL system.

A contract for the same was signed with two private platers, Tata Power Company and Larsen & Toubro.

Earlier this month, India tested an enhanced version of the Mk-1 Pinaka rocket.

While the original Mk-1 rocket has a range of 38 km, the enhanced version has a range of 45 km and some additional features.

The new version will be manufactured by Economic Explosives Limited, a Nagpur-based private entity.

The DRDO has also developed and tested Mk-II version of the Pinaka rocket. This version has a range of around 60 kilometers.