NEW DELHI: India plans to deploy 120 tactical missiles on its borders with China and Pakistan, a news agency said on Monday.
Experts think that it is more likely that the declaration is a retaliation for internal opposition claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was frightened to act after purported Chinese aggression.
The government has declined to allow a parliamentary discussion of the matter.
A reminder in the report that read like a missile promotion was obvious.
However, the Pralay ballistic missile has only been used in two tests as of yet, the report added. Due to the need to create supporting transportable platforms for the ballistic missile, this could imply that the missile would not be operational for at least a few years.
Reports said India has approved the purchase of 120 Pralay missiles to deploy them along the country’s borders with China and Pakistan.
“A high-level meeting of the Defense Ministry cleared the acquisition of around 120 missiles for the armed forces and their deployment along the borders,” a defense source was quoted by ANI news agency as saying.
Pralay missiles are said to be able to hit targets at a distance of up to 500km and are difficult to intercept due to their ability to change their path.
Developed domestically, Pralay is a canisterised tactical, surface-to-surface, short-range ballistic missile and has often been compared with the Russian Iskander missiles.
The missile, fired from a canister, followed the intended quasi-ballistic trajectory and made a highly accurate strike on the target, validating the control, guidance, and mission algorithms, reports said.
Even while it has been said that Pralay is based on the Indian ballistic missile Prithvi, the reports state that it has been compared more to the Russian Iskander ballistic missiles, which have been heavily used against Ukraine and have proven their combat prowess.
The Indian military’s decision to purchase the Pralay missile is noteworthy since it coincides with high-level discussions about the creation of a rocket force for the Indian Army within the Indian Defense Ministry.
