India has carried out multiple tests of its Pralay missile from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam island off the coast of Odisha, security sources said on Wednesday further warning that the move was likely to increase regional tensions.
Noting that the tests were a conspiracy to pave the way for an arms race and war, the security sources said that Pakistan possessed the Nasr (Hatf-IX) missile which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and could counter the threat posed by India.
The features of the Nasr missile make it effective against the enemy’s first strike, the security sources noted.
India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), as reported by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), conducted two consecutive light-tests of the Pralay missile on July 28 and July 29 “as a part of User Evaluation Trials to validate the maximum and minimum range capability of the missile system”.
New Delhi’s Pralay missile is a quasi-ballistic missile, fuelled by solid propellant, and is capable of carrying multiple types of warheads.
The surface-to-surface weapon system is expected to be a part of India’s proposed Integrated Rocket Force (IRF) — which is currently in the phase of planning and will be separate from the country’s tri-service Strategic Forces Command (SFC), reported the Times of India.
India’s latest missile tests come against the backdrop of its recent four-day military conflict with Pakistan, which saw the latter retaliating to the former’s cross-border strikes via Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos where multiple Indian military sites were hit and several fighter jets were downed.
The confrontation came in the wake of a deadly attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) Pahalgam region, where 26 tourists lost their lives.
