Defence Ministry to sign ₹10,200 crore Pinaka rocket deal today

Defence Ministry to sign Rs 10,200 crore contract for Pinaka ammunition today with Solar Industries and MIL.

The Defence Ministry will sign the Rs 10,200 crore contract for ammunition for the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher weapon system on Thursday with Solar Industries, Nagpur, and public sector firm Munitions India Limited (MIL).

Cabinet Committee on Security had cleared the Indian Army proposal to buy the ammunition including Area Denial Munitions last week, said Defence officials.

The project will be divided between the rocket manufacturer Solar Industries of Nagpur and the former Ordnance Factory Board company Munitions India Limited (MIL), they said.

Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi had said in his annual press conference on January 13 that the contract for Pinaka weapon systems munitions including Rs 5,700 crore for high-explosive ammunition and Rs 4,500 crore area denial munitions were expected to be cleared soon by the government.

DRDO is already in the advanced stages of making a 120 km strike version of the Pinaka rockets and is expected to carry out its first test in the next financial year.

The rockets cleared today by the CCS have a range of around 45 Kms and can be very effective at both the Pakistan and China border.

One of the biggest success stories among the Indigenous weapon systems, the Army is fully backing it as Chief of Army Staff Gen Dwivedi has already made it clear that as soon as longer-range versions of the Pinaka are ready, the force might drop plans for other alternate weapons.

Pinaka has already been a major success story in the export sector as it has been bought by Armenia while many European countries including France are showing interest in it.