India Test-Fires Upgraded Guided Pinaka Rocket

India has successfully test-fired the upgraded version of Pinaka rocket from the Proof & Experiment Establishment (PXE) at Chandipur in Odisha today.

"Two rounds of tests have been conducted and some more rounds have been planned," a defence source told PTI.

The earlier Pinaka version, which was an unguided one, has now been upgraded into a guided version, with a navigation, guidance and control kit developed by the Research Centre, Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, the source said.

According to a source in the DRDO, the conversion helped in enhancing the range and accuracy of Pinaka. If its range was earlier 40 km, it is more than 70 km now, he said. 

"Radars, electro-optical systems and telemetry systems at the defence range at Chandipur, tracked and monitored the rocket all through its flight path. The guided version is Pinaka mark-II, which evolved from Pinaka mark-I," the source said. 

The success of the guided Pinaka has reinforced the technological strength of the country in converting the unguided systems into weapons of high precision, he added. 

The Guided Pinaka is developed jointly by Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL).