Cleared for deployment on border, enhanced Pinaka rockets to add muscle power to Indian Army

New Delhi, Nov 05: The new version of the Pinaka rocket system was developed to counter the People's Liberation Army threat along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh.

On Wednesday, the DRDO said it successfully test-fired a new version of the Pinaka rocket system off the coast of Odisha. This is an important development as the PLA has deployed a large number of rocket regiments in support of artillery guns.

Both the enhanced Pinaka and guided Pinka have been cleared for development on the borders, officials OneIndia spoke with said.

The premier military research organisation said a total of six rockets were launched in quick succession and the tests met "complete mission objectives".

"Enhanced version of PINAKA Rocket System, developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been successfully flight-tested from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha today," it tweeted.

The DRDO said the enhanced version of the Pinaka rocket system would replace the existing Pinaka Mk-I rockets, which are currently under production.

The Pinaka rockets have a range of around 37 km.

In the last two months, India has test-fired a number of missiles, including a new version of the surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile BrahMos and an anti-radiation missile named Rudram-1.