The Indian Armed Forces will be inducting the long-range attack cruise missile Nirbhay into their inventory to strike targets at a range of 1000 km highly placed sources informed a media agency. In addition, the Pralay Missile will be produced on a large scale and are also expected to join the missile inventory of the Indian Armed Forces, sources said. This will create a comprehensive package of long rang and intermediate range missiles in the Indian arsenal, sources reported.
Nirbhay Missile
The Nirbhay is a long-range indigenous all weather cruise missile developed by the Defence and Development Organisation (DRDO) which can neutralise targets at a distance of more than a thousand kilometers. It is fully capable of carrying nuclear as well as conventional warheads. It can perform loitering as well as sea skimming purposes too. However, it is a subsonic missile. The word Nirbhay in Sanskrit means Fearless.
It can go around a target and perform a series of manoeuvres and then can re-engage it. It can also pick up a specific target out of a crowd of enemy targets and destroy it completely. It has two side wings and fly at altitudes ranging from 100mters to four kilometers, and also below tree level to avoid radar detection.
It can also form a deadly combination with the BrahMos Missile, jointly developed by India and the Russian Federation. The central government has approved the missile for two out of India’s three armed forces, a proposal sent by one of them to the government for inducting the Nirbhay in significant number sources reported.
The cruise missiles are a part of India’s rocket force, which is being created by the Indian government to deal with threat perceptions arising mostly out of the Peoples Republic of China and Pakistan in land, sea or aerial domains. Similar capabilities are available to the defence forces of the two above mentioned adversaries of India.
Pralay Missile
The Pralay is a quasi-ballistic surface to surface missile. It is named after the Sanskrit word Pralay which means apocalypse. The advance missile has been designed in such a way that it is capable of destroying interceptor missiles and has the ability to change its path after covering a certain coverage of range in mid-air. It can carry a warhead weighing 350 to 700 kilograms and is akin to the Dong Feng Missile of thr Peoples Republic of China and the Iskander Missile used by the Russian Federation in its war with Ukraine
It has a range of 150- 500km. It is propelled by the solid propellant rocket motors and other novel technologies. Along with the BrahMos missile it will be a integral party of the crux of Indian Rocket Force. It is the longest surface to surface missile possessed by the Indian Army into its inventory.
Speaking on the production of Pralay missiles, a top defence official has said that it will be produced on a massive scale and will be ready for operational service in the near future. It was successfully tested on two consecutive days in December 2022 and the forces have been working towards its acquisitions and induction ever since.
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