India's indigenously developed multi-barrel rocket launcher weapon system, 'Pinaka' was successfully tested on Wednesday jointly by the army and scientists from a defence base at Chandipur-on-sea, about 15 km from Balasore, Orissa.
'Pinaka', which has undergone several tough tests since 1995 and in its advance stage of development, were put to sample trials at the Proof Experimental Establishment by army and scientists from Defence Research and Development Organisation, defence sources said.
"The objective of the trials was to assess its stability in flight as well as accuracy and consistency," a defence official said, adding that the MBRL, capable of acting as a force-multiplier, can gradually replace the current artillery system.
The first round of trial, conducted at 1214 hours, yielded the desired results, PXE director Maj-Gen Anup Malhotra said.
The tests coincided with the golden jubilee celebrations of the DRDO.
The sophisticated 'Pinaka' is an area weapon system aimed at supplementing the existing artillery gun at a range beyond 30 km. Its quick reaction time and high rate of fire gives an edge to the army during low-intensity warlike situation.
The unguided rocket system is meant to neutralise bigger geographical area with rapid salvo of rockets. With a range of 40 km, 'Pinaka' can fire salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds. One salvo each (12 rockets) from the battery of six launchers can neutralise at a time a target area of 3.9 sq km.
The system's capability to incorporate several types of warheads makes it deadly for the enemy as it can even destroy their solid structures and bunkers.
Wednesday's exercise involved six rounds of sample trials for which rockets were picked up randomly from 102 samples, the sources said.
Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), which is the nodal agency to develop the 'Pinaka', has also reported to have developed a high performance artillery rocket system, which can fire up to a range between 70 km and 120 km, they said.
ARDE has announced that it is developing a 7.2-metre rocket for the Pinaka MBRL, which can reach a distance of 120 km and carry a 250 kg payload. These new rockets can be fired in 44 seconds, have a maximum speed of mach 4.7, rise to an altitude of 40 km before hitting its target at mach 1.8 and can destroy an area of 3.9 sq km.
Integrating UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) with the Pinaka is also in the pipeline, as DRDO intends to install guidance systems on these rockets to increase their accuracy.
Development and trials will continue and the rocket is expected to enter service by 2012.
The first Pinaka regiment was raised in February 2000. A regiment consists of three batteries of six Pinakas each, plus reserves, the sources said.
Tata Power's advanced material division and Larsen and Tubro's heavy engineering division were awarded a Rs 200 crore contract to produce 40 Pinaka MRBLs each.
