India tests quasi-ballistic surface-to-surface missile

New Delhi: India on Wednesday tested a new surface-to-surface missile “Pralay”. It is a quasi-ballistic missile and can hit targets from 150 to 500 km.

The new generation missile can be fired from a mobile launcher that can be moved from one place to another, making it difficult for rival nations to know their exact location. Usually, at the start of a war, missile launch sites are attacked in the initial stages. A quasi-ballistic missile is one that will not follow the typical ballistic missile trajectory and is manoeuvrable during flight. Such missiles have a low trajectory and move at a faster speed, giving rivals less time to react.

“The Defence Research and Development Organisation successfully conducted the maiden flight test of indigenously-developed surface-to-surface missile ‘Pralay’ from the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha on December 22,” the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that the missile has met all its objectives.

“The new missile followed the desired quasi-ballistic trajectory and reached the designated target with a high degree of accuracy, validating the control, guidance and mission algorithms. All the sub-systems performed satisfactorily,” said the statement.

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.

The missile is powered with a solid propellant rocket motor and many new technologies. The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation system and integrated avionics.

“Congratulations to DRDO and associated teams for the maiden development flight trial. My compliments to them for the fast-track development and successful launch of modern surface-to-surface quasi-ballistic missile. It is a significant milestone achieved today,” tweeted defence minister Rajnath Singh.