Pralay — India’s first tactical quasi-ballistic missile, a step towards own rocket force.

• The decision by the Defence Ministry to procure indigenous short-range ballistic surface-to-surface (SRBM) missile Pralay, a conventional weapon that has become ready for induction in just seven years, gives Indian military the heft to its war-fighting capabilities.
• The missile will be India’s first tactical quasi-ballistic missile and will give the armed forces the capability to hit enemy positions and key installations in actual battlefield areas.
• Pralay, along with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, will form the crux of India’s planned Rocket Force — a concept that was envisaged by former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the late General Bipin Rawat.
• Only conventional missiles would come under the planned Rocket Force as and when it’s ready, while nuclear weapons would continue to be under the ambit of the Strategic Forces Command.
• The Pralay missile project was sanctioned in 2015 and is a derivative of the Prahaar missile programme, which was first tested in 2011.
• Pralay was formed through elements from multiple missile programmes that include the K-series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles and the ballistic defence shield programme.
• The canisterised Pralay missile, with a range of 150-500 kilometres, has been developed according to the specifications and requirement of the Army, which was looking to arm itself with a tactical conventional missile that could be used on the battlefield.
• Incidentally, both China and Pakistan have tactical ballistic missiles.

What makes Pralay deadly?

• The Indian missile can be compared to China’s Dong Feng 12and the Russian Iskander missile that has been used in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
• The US Army is in the process of increasing the range of a similar short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).
• What makes Pralay deadly is that it is a quasi-ballistic weapon, which means that while it has a low trajectory and is largely ballistic, it can manoeuvre in flight. It has been designed to evade interceptor missiles.
• Ballistic missiles are initially powered by a rocket or series of rockets in stages, but then follow an unpowered trajectory that arches upwards before descending to reach its intended target at high speed.
• Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles that exit the Earth’s atmosphere, short-range ballistic missiles stay within it.
• Pralay would eventually be part of the Rocket Force, which will also include the BrahMos as well as the Smerch and indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel missile launchers, besides a few other systems that are being built.
• Pralay is powered with a solid propellant rocket motor and multiple new technologies and, according to sources, accuracy is a highlight of this missile.
• It is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of about 350 kg to 700 kg, which gives it a deadly punitive capability.
• It can carry a high explosive preformed fragmentation warhead, penetration-cum-blast (PCB) and runaway denial penetration submunition (RDPS).

What was the need for a ballistic missile when there is already a cruise missile whose range can be shortened for use in a battlefield?

• Both have their own distinct advantages. While BrahMos has high agility, stealth and even loitering capability, Pralay has the advantage of speed and countering it is a difficult task, even for modern air defence systems.