'Pralay', India's first conventional ballistic missile, test-fired again

This is the first time in history that two consecutive tests of conventional ballistic missile like ‘Pralay’ were conducted successfully. Now, India has a response to a conventional missile attack as it has no first-use nuclear policy.

Published on: Dec 23, 2021, 10:36:28 IST

By Shishir Gupta, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

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India conducted the second trial of 'Pralay' conventional ballistic missile off the APJ Abdul Kalam island in Odisha on Thursday morning. The developmental trial of the missile was successful with the platform reaching a range of 500 kilometres.

The ‘Pralay’ missile was test-fired from APJ Abdul Kalam island in Odisha on Thursday morning. (ANI Photo)

'Pralay' is India's first conventional ballistic missile and is an answer to any conventional missile attack from northern or western borders. The missile development is significant as India had no conventionally armed ballistic missile and was hampered by 'No First Use' nuclear policy. It is also the first time in history that two tests of conventional ballistic missiles were done successfully on consecutive days.

Watch: Made-in-India new generation 'Pralay' missile successfully tested

Wednesday's missile range was 400 kilometres. The missile is an offensive weapon to destroy targets across land and sea and is Indian answer to any carrier task force of the adversary in future.

The solid-fuel, battlefield missile developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) is based on Prithvi Defence Vehicle from the Indian ballistic missile programme.

‘Pralay’ is powered with a solid propellant rocket motor and other new technologies. The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation and integrated avionics, according to the DRDO.

The advanced missile has been developed in a way to be able to defeat interceptor missiles. It has the ability to change its path after covering a certain range mid-air.

After the missile test on Wednesday, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO and associated teams for this maiden development.

He also complimented DRDO for the fast track development and successful launch of the modern surface-to-surface missile.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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