NEW DELHI: The Indian Army has added another Pinaka regiment and is preparing to induct one more by the end of the year as it expands rocket artillery capability along the western and northern frontiers, it is learnt.
“The seventh regiment has already been operationalised. The eighth has been raised and has received more than half its equipment. It is currently undergoing conversion and should become operational before the end of the year,” sources in the defence establishment said.
Two more regiments from a batch of six ordered in 2020 are expected to be operationalised next year, which will take the total number of Pinaka regiments in service to ten.
The Army had ordered four Pinaka regiments between 2010 and 2020, with expansion accelerating after the Galwan Valley clash with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh.
That year, the defence ministry inked contracts worth about Rs 2,580 crore with BEML, Tata Power Company Limited and Larsen & Toubro for six additional Pinaka regiments. The order included 114 launchers equipped with Automated Gun Aiming and Positioning Systems, 45 command posts and 330 support vehicles.
In artillery parlance, a regiment is the basic operational formation and typically comprises three batteries. Each battery operates six Pinaka launchers, giving a regiment 18 launchers in combat configuration. Two additional launchers are generally maintained for training and wartime replacement.
A single battery of six launchers can fire 72 rockets in about 44 seconds, covering an area of roughly 1,000 by 800 metres. Such barrages are intended to neutralise troop concentrations, artillery positions, logistics hubs and other high-value targets within minutes.
The Army fields multiple variants of the Pinaka system with progressively longer strike ranges. The original Mk-I rockets can strike targets at 37–40 km, the extended-range Mk-II reaches about 60 km, while guided Pinaka rockets can engage targets at around 75–90 km with greater accuracy.
In December last year, DRDO successfully tested a long-range guided rocket (LRGR) from a Pinaka launcher at a range of about 120 km with textbook accuracy. France is understood to be showing interest in this variant.
The requirement for a long-range, deep-strike rocket capability was identified during Operation Sindoor, following which the Army acquired two Indo-Israeli Suryastra long-range rocket launcher systems under the Emergency Procurement (EP) mechanism. The systems are currently undergoing live-fire trials before subsequent orders.
At present, the Army fields about 15 rocket artillery regiments across three platforms: seven Pinaka regiments, three Russian-origin Smerch systems and five older BM-21 Grad units. The Army plans to gradually replace the ageing Grad systems with additional Pinaka units, with long-term plans to expand the Pinaka fleet to about 22 regiments.
During Operation Sindoor last year, Pakistan fired a Fatah-II guided rocket that was intercepted by Indian air defence units over Sirsa in Haryana. Pakistan has claimed the system has a range of up to 400 km. In August last year, Pakistan also announced the creation of an Army Rocket Force Command (ARFC) to manage long-range rockets and missiles, modelled on its ally, China.
China, meanwhile, fields a far larger and more integrated rocket artillery capability. The PLA Ground Force operates systems such as the PHL-16 multiple launch rocket system, claimed to fire guided rockets to about 130 km and tactical missiles approaching 290 km. Integrated with satellites, drones and digital command networks, these systems allow Chinese forces to detect and strike targets deep inside contested areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In January this year, Army Chief Gen. Upendra Dwivedi said the military was working on the creation of a dedicated rocket-cum-missile force to manage conventional ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and multi-barrel rocket launcher systems.