..:: India Strategic ::.. India tests 'Prahaar', a new, short range missile
India tests 'Prahaar', a new, short range missile
India successfully tested a new, short range Surface to Surface (SS) missile today to attack targets as near as 40 km with destructive power. Its maximum range is 150 km.
Designated Prahaar in Hindi, or Strike, this was the first test of the new missile and there would be some more to establish its required parameters before induction with the Indian Army and Air Force units. The missile can be launched from its canisters within two to three minutes without much preparations, and can also be ferried on road and rail mobile launchers.
The missile has been described as a Quick Reaction (QR) system.
India has an advanced home grown missile programme now, which took time to develop, but is now maturing rapidly with various missiles being tested or developed from 40 to 5000 km.
Today's test, conducted from a test range off Cgandipore in the Bay of Bengal, was described as "a great launch" by Director General V K Saraswat of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which began the indigenous missile development programme 25 years ago under the leadership of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, who later rose to become the country's President.
Powered by solid fuel propelllents, Prahar has a length of 7.3 metres, diameter of 420 mm, and weighs 1280 km. It takes about 250 seconds to reach a target 150 km away. It carries a payload of 200 kg.
It is an all weather, all terrain, accurate targeting weapon and can be fired in salvos of six from its launchers.
It is not known if the new missile will be armed with small, tactical nuclear bombs but it is the officially declared policy of the Indian Government that India would not use nuclear weapons first, and never against non-nuclear countries.
DRDO scientists however said that there would be an attempt to reduce the weight of the missile as the tests progress. Reduced weight of the propellant rocket would compensate for higher explosive package.
DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said that the Prahar "is developed to provide Indian Army a cost effective, quick reaction, all weather, all terrain, high accurate battle field support tactical system. The development of the missile has been executed within a short span of less than two years."test was witnessed by Dr Saraswat and Lt Gen Vinod Nayanar DG Artillery. India's top missile scientists Avinash Chander, Chief Controller, VLN Rao, Programme Director, S K Ray, Director RCI (or Research Centre Imarat) and S P Sash, Director Interim Test Range (ITR), oversaw the test operations.
The flight path of the missile during the test was tracked and monitored by the various radar systems and Electro Optical systems located along the coast of Orissa. An Indian naval ship located near the target point in Bay of Bengal witnessed the final event. The missile was developed by the DRDO Scientists with support from Indian Industry partners like Larsen & Toubro and Quality assurance agency MSQAA.