NEW DELHI: The Army is now putting its full weight behind the indigenous Pinaka multi-launch artillery rocket systems, with orders worth Rs 10,200 crore for its ammunition to be cleared soon, even as India is also exporting the systems to other countries.
Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said two Pinaka contracts — Rs 5,700 crore for high-explosive pre-fragmented ammunition and Rs 4,500 crore for area denial munitions — are all set to be inked before the current fiscal ends on March 31. These orders will cater for the 10 Pinaka regiments already ordered by the over 11-lakh strong Army, which also has three Russian-origin Smerch and five Grad rocket regiments.
While the force has inducted four Pinaka regiments, with some of the launchers also deployed in high-altitude areas along the northern borders with China, the other six are in the process of being inducted to add “more punch and lethality” to its arsenal. “The Pinaka is one of the best rocket systems in the world. Its regiments have been high-altitude enabled,” a senior officer said.
The high-explosive pre-fragmented ammunition has a strike range of 45 km, while the aerial denial munitions can be launched to a distance of 37 km. The latter have the capability to saturate a target area with multiple bomblets, including anti-tank and anti-personnel minelets.
DRDO has developed a variety of ammunition for the Pinaka, including rockets with 45-km extended range and 75-km guided extended range. With the plan underway to further enhance the range first to 120 km and then to 300 km, Gen Dwivedi said, “As soon as we get longer ranges, we might drop plans for other alternate long-range weapons we are looking at and concentrate on it (Pinaka).”
The six new Pinaka regiments, under contracts inked with defence PSU Bharat Earth Movers Ltd and private sector companies Tata Advanced Systems and Larsen & Toubro, comprise 114 launchers with automated gun aiming and positioning systems and 45 command posts, along with 330 vehicles. “They are equipped with electronically and mechanically improved weapon systems capable of firing a variety of ammunition over longer ranges,” another officer said.
India is also stepping-up plans to export the Pinaka system, along with other products like BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and Akash air defence missile systems, to ‘friendly’ countries.
The former Soviet republic of Armenia, for instance, is importing both Pinaka and Akash systems, as earlier reported by TOI. Some Asean, African and European countries have also shown interest in acquiring the Pinaka systems. Another major deal to be inked within this fiscal for the Army’s Regiment of Artillery will be the Rs 8,500 crore one for 307 indigenous advanced towed artillery gun systems, which is touted to have a strike range of 48 km.
