India Set To Buy 250 More Pralay Missiles, Total Planned Arsenal at 370 Missiles - A Rocket Force In The Making

India plans to acquire 250 more Pralay ballistic missiles to further bolster its own 'rocket force', according to news sources.

The defence ministry will reportedly order two Pralay ballistic missile units at a cost of more than Rs 7,500 crore. It is notable that the ministry had approved buying 120 Pralay ballistic missiles in Dec 2022. They will be stationed along the China and Pakistan borders.

The missiles acquisition proposal for ground forces is almost finalised and expected to be approved soon, news reports say.

News reports also indicated that efforts are underway to enhance the range of these missiles by a few hundred kilometers. China and Pakistan also deploy tactical ballistic missiles.

The missile will be first inducted by the Indian Air Force, to be followed by the Indian Army.

What we know about Pralay

A tactical missile, Pralay, has a stated range of 150-500 kilometres and carries warheads ranging from 350 to 700 kilograms.

Evolved from India's K-series of Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles or SLBMs, the first known tests of the Pralay missile were conducted on two consecutive days in December 2021.

The satellite imagery of the test shows that Pralay is a canisterised road-mobile system. Canisterisation can significantly enhance the mobility of a tactical missile system by reducing the time and resources required to prepare and launch the missile.

The mobility of a tactical missile system is important because it allows the system to be moved to different locations as needed in order to respond to evolving threats.

But more importantly, in one of the two tests conducted last December, the missile was launched on a quasi-ballistic trajectory.

In a quasi-ballistic trajectory, the missile follows a relatively lower (though largely ballistic) path than a ballistic missile would, and has the ability to perform manoeuvres in flight.

When moving in a lower trajectory than a ballistic missile, a quasi-ballistic missile is able to maintain a higher speed, which gives its target less time to react to the incoming threat. It significantly increases the chances of the missile defeating enemy's missile defence systems. 

The Defence Ministry has referred to the missile as a "conventional Surface-to-Surface missile" in an effort to distinguish it from the Agni series of missiles, which have the capability to carry both conventional or nuclear warheads.