India test fires enhanced Pinaka rocket

The Indian Ministry of Defence has announced that the enhanced Pinaka rocket completed the flight test on 4 November.

The test was carried out at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, which is off the coast of Odisha state.

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed the enhanced rocket, which is expected to deliver longer range performance.

Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), the Pune-based DRDO laboratories, were responsible for the design and development.

During the firing, six rockets were launched and are said to have met all the objectives of the mission.

Economic Explosives Limited in Nagpur manufactured the rockets.

The articles of the flight were tracked by the telemetry, radar and electro-optical tracking systems, as well as other range instruments, which confirmed the flight performance.

The Pinaka rocket’s enhanced version will be used to replace the current Pinaka Mk-I rockets, which are currently under production.

In September, DRDO transferred Authority Holding Sealed Particulars (AHSP) responsibility of Pinaka weapon system to the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA).

The move served as a key step to support the production of Pinaka rockets, launchers and associated equipment.

The Government of India signed contracts worth Rs25.8bn ($353.63m) to procure Pinaka missiles for the army.

The Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) acquisition wing signed contracts with Bharat Earth Movers (BEML), Tata Power Company (TPCL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for six Pinaka regiments, which will be supplied to the Regiment of Artillery of the Indian Army.