Breaking news
India defense industry has tested its new Pinaka II multi-barrel rocket launcher 10401162.
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Defence & Security News - India
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| India defense industry has tested its new Pinaka II multi-barrel rocket launcher. | |||
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Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) of India, Pune, a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory has ended the year with three-day-long User Assisted Trials of Pinaka II, a complete multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) system with a range of 60 km.
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 The Pinaka II multi-barrel rocket launcher during firing test. |
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DRDO officials revealed that after the successful development trials of 60 km range Pinaka II rocket systems, the same were being manufactured in huge quantities in production lines. Sources revealed that the same have been handed over to the Army as per its projected demand meeting the timeframe of December 2015. "And now, the user assisted trials have been completed successfully in Pokhran in the past three days or so," said an official pleading anonymity about these covert trials marking a glorious year end for DRDO as well as the Army. Pinaka has been indigenously developed by ARDE, Pune, a DRDO laboratory.
Interestingly, the 'submunition warheads', amongst the eight different kinds of warheads for Pinaka, successfully tested during advanced development trials for Pinaka I in Pokhran field firing range in Rajasthan during June 2015, paved way for it to be used in Pinaka II as well. These act as a force-multiplier while supplementing the artillery guns as well. Pinaka, the indigenous unguided rocket system which has been undergoing extensive testing since the past 20 years is capable of neutralising large areas with rapid salvos. Having proven its mettle during Kargil war while neutralising the mountain peaks off the enemy, Pinaka takes pride in its low cost vis-a-vis other such rocket systems in the world bestowed with shoot and scoot capabilities. Pinaka battery consists of six launchers, each equipped with 12 rockets. Capable of carrying a payload of more than 100 kg, Pinaka went into development in 1986 and production in 1998. Having proven its mettle during Kargil, indigenous Pinaka MBRL mounted on a Tatra truck can act as a force-multiplier as an Area Weapon System while firing a salvo of 12 High Explosive (HE) rockets in 44 seconds and neutralizing a marked area of 3.9 sq km. This thermo-baric ammunition has become even more lethal while being able to operate from a mobile launcher at extreme temperature ranges of -10 degrees Celsius to 55 degrees Celsius or so, with a quicker reaction time and capability to carry various kinds of warheads. The MBRL system can work in various modes including autonomous mode while being controlled by a fire control computer, standalone mode, manual mode or remote mode etc. |
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 Indian-made Pinaka II multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) |
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