The landscape of modern warfare is shifting beneath the treads of mobile launchers, as evidenced by United States Central Command’s recent deployment of the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, in Iran.
In what has been recorded as the longest field artillery strike in US Army combat history, the PrSM—launched from HIMARS and M270 platforms—successfully neutralised Iranian military infrastructure.
This operation, confirmed by Admiral Bradley Cooper, underscores a growing global reliance on long-range, land-based precision fire that can bypass the need for risky aerial sorties.
While the PrSM currently boasts a range of 500 kilometres, its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, is already engineering a successor capable of reaching 1,000 kilometres through advanced aerodynamics and propulsion.
Interestingly, while the American system excels in reach, its 91 kg warhead is actually less powerful than the payload carried by India’s indigenous Pinaka rocket system. This highlights a critical balance in artillery design between the “scalpel” of precision and the “hammer” of raw destructive power.
India is aggressively modernising its own rocket capabilities to match this global trend. The Pinaka system, which began with a modest range of 37.5 kilometres, is being evolved to reach 120 kilometres, with future iterations aimed at the 300-kilometre mark.
Such advancements are strategically vital, allowing the Indian Army to strike deep into the Tibetan plateau or across the border into Pakistan from safe stand-off distances.
The current goal is to expand from seven operational Pinaka regiments to 22, supplementing existing Russian-made Grad and Smerch systems.
The history of this technology is ironically cyclical, finding its roots in the 18th-century Anglo-Mysore Wars. Tipu Sultan’s pioneering use of iron-cased rockets against the British eventually led to their reverse-engineering and subsequent use against the United States in the War of 1812.
This historical thread is even woven into the American national anthem; the “rocket’s red glare” mentioned in The Star-Spangled Banner refers to technology derived from Indian battlefields over two centuries ago.
From the terrifying “Stalin’s Organs” of the Second World War to the precision strikes seen today in Ukraine and Israel, the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) has become an indispensable multi-role platform.
It bridges the tactical gap between traditional tube artillery and expensive ballistic missiles. For India, the necessity of a dedicated “rocket-cum-missile force” has been championed by Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, particularly following the kinetic phases of Operation Sindoor.
As regional adversaries like China and Pakistan have already established operational rocket forces, India’s push for the Pinaka is more than just a technological upgrade; it is a strategic imperative.
The ability to saturate a large area or strike a specific high-value target without risking aircraft and crew is now the hallmark of a modern military. In an era defined by precision firepower, the rocket is no longer just a weapon of saturation, but a primary tool of strategic deterrence.
Agencies
