*NEW DELHI – **In a Direct threat to Pakistan, Indian Air Force adds lethalfirepower in precision strikes.*
In order to enhance the firepower of Army and Air Force and toupgrade precision strike capabilities, India is working on ‘Pranash’ballistic missile which will be capable of striking targets at a range of200km.
The new tactical ballistic missile is an advanced version of the 150-kmstrike range Prahar missile. Prahar was a replacement of Prithvi ballisticmissiles.
As per a Defence official, “The Defence Research and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) has started working on the development of the 200-kmstrike range Pranash ballistic missile which would be armed withconventional warheads.”
The trials of the missile would be conducted in next couple of years andthe single-stage solid-propellant missile would also be readied for exportsto friendly foreign countries as its strike range is within the permissiblelimits of international regimes on missile sales.
On February 26, India had successfully test-fired two Quick ReactionSurface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) from a test range along the Odisha coast.
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The missile was developed by the Defence Research and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) in association with Bharat Electronics Limited andBharat Dynamics Limited for the Indian Army is an indigenously developedall-weather weapon system has a strike range of 25 km to 30 km and designedto be a quick reaction missile capable of tracking and firing.
‘Pranash’ older version ‘Prahaar’ was test-fired successfully on 21 July2011 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur. During the test,the missile travelled a distance of 150 km (93 mi) in about 250 seconds.
It was made to fill the gap between the 90 km-range of the Smerchmulti-barrel rocket launchers and guided missiles like `Prithvi`, which canstrike at 250 km to 350 km range.
