Indian Army successfully tests Pinaka Missile launcher system

New Delhi: – Indian military successfully tested the Pinaka missile launcher system, developed by a private sector company, on Wednesday. This test was conducted at the Pokhran firing range and the missiles precisely hit the targets. Under the ‘Make in India’ scheme, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had awarded the contract to manufacture this system to a private company. Therefore, henceforth, the defence forces will not have to depend, only on the Ordinance factory board, for the manufacture of missiles and weapons.

Pinaka, developed by the DRDO, is a multi-barrel missile launcher system. The range of the ‘Pinaka Mark 1’ is 40 kilometres and ‘Pinaka Mark 2’ is 75 kilometres. Pinaka is capable of targeting the enemy hiding in the mountainous terrain. Pinaka missile system has been commissioned in the Indian military. This is considered to be the most powerful and effective missile with the army.

Military has a large-scale requirement of this missile and the Ordnance Factory Board cannot fulfil the requirement in the given time. Ordnance Factory Board is already busy with the manufacture of the other weapons for the military. Against this background, five years ago, permission was granted to a private company to manufacture these missiles.

Economic Explosive Limited is the company that manufactured the Pinaka missile system. DRDO transferred the requisite technology to the company under strict conditions. On Wednesday, six missiles made by the company were successfully tested at the Pokhran firing range. Confidence is being expressed that if the company manufactures these missiles on a large scale, it will provide an impetus to the Make in India scheme.

Meanwhile, last year in December, DRDO had conducted two successive tests of Pinaka missiles at the Chandipur range in Odisha.