Pinaka rockets to be handed over to Indian Army tomorrow

Nagpur, Feb 28 (UNI) The first batch of the fully indigenously developed Pinaka rocket will be formally handed over to the Indian Army at a ceremony to be held at the Ordnance Factory near Chandrapur in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra tomorrow.

Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen M L Naidu will be the chief guest at the ceremony, according to a press release from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) here.

The 155 mm 'Base Bleed' ammunition will also be formally handed over to the Indian Army in the same function.

The Pinaka rocket has been developed by a team of engineers and technicians at the Ordnance Factory at Ambazari (OFAJ) near here on the basis of design by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The target is to hand over 300 rockets to the army this year, and 1,000 per year from next year. The 4.95-metre long rocket, which will be used by the artillery primarily for neutralising enemy infrastructure like ammo dumps and airstrips, travels at a speed of 1,000 metre per second at full burn and has a range of 38 kilometre.

The 276-kilogram Pinaka is propelled by a solid propellant in two tubes, and can carry a warhead of 100 kilogram. A battery of six Pinaka rockets can neutralise an area of 1,000 metres by 800 metre. The warhead carries a mixture of RDX and aluminium.

The main role of the system is to hit targets beyond the capabilities of existing conventional guns.

The system is capable of delivering a high volume of indirect fire in a short period against critical, time-sensitive and high-value artillery targets. The weapon is designed to supplement conventional artillery in its modern requirement of accurate placement of massive firepower over large impact areas at long range.

The 155 mm 'Base Bleed' ammunition has also been developed by OFAJ through in-house research and development for use with the Bofors gun. A total of 20,000 systems will be manufactured this year, and 50,000 next year.

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