Hyderabad: A totally new, quick-reaction, short-range, tactical, surface-to-surface missile (SSM), designed to fill in gaps between longer range missile systems and short range rocket artillery is all set for its first flight test on 17 July. According to senior defence officials, the 150 km-range 'Prahaar (Strike)' missile would replace unguided rockets.

According to the scientific adviser to the defence minister and director general, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr VK Saraswat,  the 150 km-range missile ''is going to be an excellent weapon.''

Dr Saraswat was speaking to the media after inaugurating a new facility of Analogic Controls India Ltd. (ACIL), a facility that will manufacture electronic systems for mission critical defence and space applications.

Talking to journalists, Dr. Saraswat said Prahaar would bridge the gap between the Pinaka, a 40-km range multi-barrel rocket system and the 350-km Prithvi-II, which had been converted into a strategic missile.

India had also imported unguided rockets of 90-km range from Russia.

Dr. Saraswat said the missile would be equipped with omni-directional warheads and could be used for hitting both tactical and strategic targets. The road-mobile system could be pulled out for quick deployment with each launcher carrying six missiles. ''With different types of warheads, you can have different types of missiles from the same launcher,'' he added.

Stating that the DRDO-developed missile was cost-effective, Dr. Saraswat said that only a few would be required to cause devastation equivalent to that produced by several unguided rockets.

Initially, the missile would be made operational with the Army and subsequently with other services.

He also said the test-flight of India's near ICBM range, surface-to-surface, Agni-V missile would take place by the year-end as scheduled.

Avinash Chander, chief controller, (missile & strategic systems), DRDO, said the most ''critical milestone' - the testing of three propulsion motors for the first, second and third stages of the missile - was completed.

Prahaar

The 150 km 'Prahaar' (Strike) surface-to-surface, quick-reaction, tactical, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) battlefield support, surface-to-surface missile, has been under development for four years.

The 'Prahaar' will be a road-mobile NLOS weapon-similar to the BrahMos supersonic multi-role cruise missile-with each motorised transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) carrying three canister-based, vertically-launched missiles armed with conventional warheads.

A separate wheeled vehicle is being developed to act as a missile resupply station, carrying six canister-based missile rounds. Experts say the 'Prahaar' resembles an Israel Aerospace Industries-built LORA long-range artillery rocket.

The solid-fuelled 'Prahaar' is a product designed to overcome all deficiencies displayed by the Prithvi family of battlefield support missiles (the SS-150, SS-250 and SS-350), which is liquid fuelled and cumbersome to handle, both in terms of transportation and launch-readiness procedures.

The Prithvi was never designed to be a quick-reaction system.

In contrast to the Prithvi's single-stage system, the 'Prahaar' boasts of a three-element flight-control system, with the third and final stage comprising only of the manoeuvring warhead section.

The 'Prahaar' will eventually replace all existing Prithvi SS-150 missiles that are now deployed by the three missile groups of the Indian Army.