The Indian Defense Ministry announced on the eve of the completion of tests of the new tactical missile system "Pralay". In terms of its combat characteristics, it is approaching the domestic Iskander missile defense system, which has successfully proven itself in local military conflicts of the last decade. The Indian military plans to deploy more than a hundred new tactical missiles near the border with China, in the area of the border conflict between the two states. According to experts, the new complex will allow India to achieve missile parity with regional rivals — China and Pakistan.
The Indian Defense Ministry announced on the eve of the completion of tests of the new tactical missile system "Pralay". In terms of its combat characteristics, it is approaching the domestic Iskander missile defense system, which has successfully proven itself in local military conflicts of the last decade. The Indian military plans to deploy more than a hundred new tactical missiles near the border with China, in the area of the border conflict between the two states. According to experts, the new complex will allow India to achieve missile parity with regional rivals — China and Pakistan.
Achieved parity
Public statement on the adoption of the missile "Pralay" ("Apocalypse". — Izvestia) indicates a change in the balance of power in the region: India is rapidly approaching achieving missile parity with China, its largest military and political rival, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe.
— The appearance of such products certainly affects the balance of power in the region, — military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia. — The main strength of such missiles is that it is a large warhead that flies accurately and far away and is not intercepted by anything yet.
India has a protracted territorial conflict with China in a remote part of Tibet, where it is difficult for combined arms units to operate due to the terrain features. The last time it went into a hot phase was in December 2022, when border guards of the two countries staged a shootout in a disputed area in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
— There are unresolved territorial disputes between India and China, this conflict has been dragging on for decades, there was a big war in 1962, then there were many clashes, including in recent years. Naturally, all this causes nervousness on both sides, the desire to strengthen their defense capability, including at the expense of modern weapons, which, as we now see, are coming to this region from India," Andrei Kortunov, scientific director of the Russian International Affairs Council, told Izvestia.
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Image source: iz.ru
According to Dmitry Kornev, a military expert and editor-in-chief of the MilitaryRussia portal, the deployment of new Indian missiles near the border with China has an important informational component: they want to make a kind of hint to their neighbors.
— They hope to use this missile to close the operational and tactical tasks that their army faces on the border with China. They plan to place it there," he said.
Military expert Yuri Lyamin is also confident of achieving missile parity between India and its neighbors.
"Pralay is important for India, as it will help maintain parity with China, and most importantly, with Pakistan," he told Izvestia.
Falls short of Iskander
As part of the new ground-to—ground tactical complex, the Pralay is a solid-fuel rocket flying along a quasi-ballistic trajectory. In simple terms, in the final section of the trajectory, it maneuvers to overcome the enemy's missile defense.
Missiles of this type were adopted by Russia for the first time in the world — as part of the Iskander operational and tactical missile system. The domestic complex was first shown to the general public in 1999, and in 2004 a new Russian missile in the export version of the Iskander-E was demonstrated to the Indian military as part of the DefExpo India 2004 exhibition. Then, according to media reports, the Indian side showed interest in the possible purchase of the complex, but Russia refused to export Iskander for foreign policy reasons.
— When, for example, we launch several Iskander missiles at the same coordinates, each of the missiles flies along a unique trajectory, which it chooses independently, based on the algorithm embedded in the rocket. Even the commander of the calculation does not know how the missile will maneuver before hitting the target. Iskander does this on all sections of the flight path, and the missiles of the old complexes — only on the final section. Such a trajectory can be called quasi—ballistic," a senior officer of the Russian Defense Ministry with the call sign Seliger, who has experience in the combat use of Iskander missiles, told Izvestia.
In 2015, India began developing a solid-fuel tactical missile flying along a quasi-ballistic trajectory, the first successful test launches became known in 2021.
— There are not so many details on the Pralay rocket in the public domain, — said Dmitry Kornev. — India is independently trying and quite successfully developing its missile industry. They have a research organization DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organization. — "Izvestia"). They are betting on "Pralay", they hope that they will receive a reliable small-sized solid-fuel ammunition, which they will be able to use as an air-to-ground and ground-to-ground missile. "Pralay" is a unified missile that can be used for operational and tactical range. India has already signed a contract for its serial production.
The Ministry of Defense of India reported some characteristics of the new missile system. The mass of the warhead is from 350 to 700 kg, the missile can change the flight path and hit targets at a distance of 150 to 500 km. It is claimed that its combat units will not be equipped with nuclear munitions.
A source of Izvestia in the Russian Defense Ministry believes that the characteristics declared by the Indian military are closer to the Russian Tochka-U complex, whose rocket also flies along a quasi-ballistic trajectory.
— The declared range of the Indian complex is close to the range of our Iskander, however, if the missile maneuvers only on the final part of the trajectory, this is the technology that was used in the "Point-U", in the previous generation of domestic tactical complexes. In appearance, the rocket is also very different from ours and is unlikely to be able to maneuver like the Iskander," the source stressed.
We danced on our own
There are no publicly available materials indicating that Russian technologies, including the joint Russian-Indian development Brahmos, could be used in the development of the Pralay complex.
—Russian technologies were not used in the development of this missile," military expert Andrei Frolov told Izvestia. — They have their own developed rocket industry, many different types of missiles, they have been doing this for many years. Other countries of the region have products of this class — China, Pakistan.
Military expert Yuri Lyamin also speaks about the profound difference between Indian development and Russian tactical complexes.
— The Indian rocket is not connected with Iskander, it doesn't even look like it. Of course, it has some common characteristics. It is also solid fuel, has a similar range of up to 500 km. There are already many such missiles in the world. And all solid-fuel rockets have some common features. It was stated that "Pralay" has high accuracy, but many countries can now provide such characteristics. India has its own school and an independent missile program. They produce distinctive both liquid and solid—fuel rockets of different classes," he said.
Military expert Vladislav Shurygin, in a conversation with Izvestia, stressed that India is rapidly catching up with its regional competitors in the rocket and space industry.
— India is conducting its own large space program, and for it to create an operational and tactical rocket is not the most difficult task. China and Pakistan have a lot of different missiles, so India is more likely to catch up here," he said.
According to Indian media, the first batch of 120 Pralay missiles will begin to enter service with the Air Force in 2024. In the future, it is planned to supply 250 missile systems in the interests of the ground forces. It is reported that they will be part of the Joint Missile Command responsible for the use of the latest weapons, including supersonic cruise missiles "Brahmos", multiple rocket launchers "Pinaka", as well as long-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads "Prithvi", "Agni" and "Shaurya".
India's regional competitors are armed with a wide range of tactical missile weapons. The People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China has a Dongfeng-15 tactical missile system capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 600 km. The missile can be equipped with a nuclear warhead. Pakistan has a whole range of medium- and short-range missiles. In particular, "Abdali" has a range of up to 180 km, "Hatf-3" — up to 300 km, "Shahin-1" — up to 750 km. Iran has a Fateh-110 complex with a firing range of up to 300 km.