Pinaka Rockets for Armenia: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday sent the first batch of guided Pinaka rockets to Armenia. These rockets were made by Solar Defence and Aerospace Limited (SDAL). The company has factories in Nagpur and Pune. The guided Pinaka rockets are very smart weapons. They can hit targets very accurately and can go more than 70 km far, according to sources.
Armenia had signed a big deal worth ₹2,000 crore in September 2022. Under this deal, Armenia ordered four Pinaka batteries. These include unguided rockets, longer-range rockets and guided rockets. Armenia was the first country outside India to buy the Pinaka system. The Pinaka system was developed by DRDO. Earlier, the unguided Pinaka rockets were delivered between July 2023 and late 2024.
Sources also said that tenders are now being prepared so that the Indian armed forces can also buy the guided version of Pinaka rockets. The Indian Army is using other types of Pinaka rockets.
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Nagastra and New Weapons
During the same event, Rajnath Singh opened a new factory in Nagpur. This factory will make medium calibre ammunition. It is a fully automated plant and produces 30mm ammunition, which is used a lot by the Indian Army and Indian Navy.
Singh also spoke about the Nagastra weapon. This is a drone-based loitering munition made by SDAL. He confirmed that Nagastra was used in Operation Sindoor. He said, “The Nagastra made precise hits on the terror targets. I heard that newer versions of the weapons are being made. Who knows we may need to fire the Nagastra again. Our enemy has a rather unpredictable nature,”.
SDAL chairman Satyanarayan Nuwal said the company made Nagastra fully on its own. He also talked about another system called Bhargavastra. He said, “SDAL has also developed Bhargavastra, the anti-drone system, which can fire a salvo of 60 mini missiles and bring down a drone swarm. Other systems world over do not have the capacity to fire more than four at a time,”.’
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Nuwal also said the company has created universal air bombs. These bombs can be used on both NATO aircraft and Russian or eastern aircraft. Most bombs in the world work with only one type. He added that SDAL spent over ₹2,180 crore in more than ten years to build defence factories. Last year, SDAL received defence orders worth ₹256 crore, while salary costs alone were ₹190 crore. He said profit was never the main goal.
Rajnath Singh Calls for Strong Private Defence Industry
Rajnath Singh said India is changing fast in defence manufacturing. He said India is no longer only buying weapons from other countries. It is now also selling weapons to the world. He said the Pinaka export shows the strength of Indian defence companies.
Singh said the government wants the private sector share in defence manufacturing to reach 50% or more in the coming time. He praised SDAL and other private companies for their work. He also spoke about the successful test of the Bhargavastra Counter Drone System.
Talking about modern wars, Singh said, “New methods of warfare are emerging. Wars are no longer confined to borders. Areas such as energy, trade, tariffs, supply chains, technology, and information have also become new dimensions of conflict. The importance of border vigilance and the latest weapons and technologies has increased. Irrespective of the nature of war, the need for a robust defence industrial base will always remain. In such a situation, increased private sector involvement in manufacturing and research & development is the need of the hour,”.
He also said the government is pushing hard to increase local content. He said, “We have decided to gradually indigenise our platforms, systems, and subsystems. Even for those things that we cannot manufacture, a provision for at least 50 per cent indigenous content has been made. As a result of these efforts, we have been successful in increasing our indigenous content in many areas. This has also boosted the morale of the private sector,”.
