BALASORE: India on Tuesday successfully test fired four rounds of an advanced Mark-II version of Pinaka rocket from a test range off the Odisha coast. This was first developmental test in the fourth series of the indigenously built rocket.
The rockets were fired from a multi-barrel launcher positioned at the firing point two of the Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) at Chandipur-on-sea between 12.15 pm and 1.30 pm.
PXE Director R Appavuraj said this was part of the developmental trials of the Pinaka rocket system. All the rockets met the mission objectives. They covered a distance of nearly 62 kms, he added.
While the tests were conducted by the Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in the presence of the personnel from the armed forces, Integrated Test Range (ITR) provided logistic support to track the rockets. Having a strike range of more than 60 kms and capable of acting as a force-multiplier, the rocket has been developed to supplement artillery guns.
Defence sources said some more rounds of the rocket will be tested in next two days. Pinaka, the unguided rocket system meant to neutralise large areas with rapid salvos, has undergone several tough tests since 1995. It has been inducted into the Army and the present trials were conducted with some improvements in the strike range of the rocket.
The rocket, which is also known as the Weapon Area System (WAS), can fire rockets with a range of 40-65 km and also launch 12 rockets with 1.2 tonne of high explosives within 40 seconds.
Pinaka can neutralise a target area of four sq kms and is meant as a supplement to the existing artillery system at a range beyond 30 km. It can be fitted with a variety of warheads ranging from blast-cum-pre-fragmented high explosives to anti-tank mines.