EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Pinaka Launcher From Commissioning Unit At Army Day Parade

The soldier in the first picture was kind enough to give me a nice demo of this Pinaka’s launcher hydraulics. This is from the 1880 Rocket Regiment (Pinaka), the first of two units armed with the indigenous MBRL system. Two more Pinaka regiments will come into existence in 2010, taking the total number of Rocket Regiments (Pinaka) to four.

Posted from Mobile/Photos by Shiv Aroor

18 thoughts on “EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Pinaka Launcher From Commissioning Unit At Army Day Parade”

  1. why are the trucks LHD!! guys i'm a DIY fella for automotive stuff and trust me, I converted a Volvo 264 from LHD to RHD in Australia. Just me and my 2 other friends, one Loca,, another is a Malaysian Indian. And all 3 of us have NO engineering background. Cant a behemoth BEML do conversions too for imported trucks?

  2. To do that they will have to send a requsition and explain the need for the same to the Babus at MoD, invite tenders, decide on the lowest bidder, financial negotiations, take kickbacks , give explanations to the CAG………

  3. It shall be a huge waste if we are unable to induct the Pinaka in large numbers. Since it costs much lower than other comparable systems and is home-made, we won't have any procurement issues like vendor being blacklisted, non-sharing of technology, etc.

    I hear that we have inducted only 80 Pinakas till now. Do you have any dope on what the final number of inducted Pinakas would be? I am guessing we need much more than 80 on the Pak border alone!

  4. Anon@2:26
    You should get used to the PSU mentality in India.They won't even make one nut or bolt until kicked in the behind.

    @Shiv,
    Is this parade taking place at the army ground in Delhi Cantt, near Polo road?

  5. Hi Shiv,
    When are we getting to hear the rocket upgrade of Pinaka to augment the range? Good to see and it makes me very proud to see Indian MBRL. Thank to all L&T & Tata included.

    Please do a story on the rocket development also.

    Chandrabhan

  6. What is the grille / frame in front of the wind shield in front of the truck?

    What's and LHD and and RHD as far as trucks go?

  7. Is it possible to have a Smerch sized and ranged Pinaka-II?

    I really like the pinaka's removable frame and rocket holder. This will allow for very rapid reloads and firing.

  8. Hi Shiv,

    Not sure if you can share your view on this. Yesterday's admission of our army general about the night blindness of armoured/ tanks and putting it at 80% really scared me to death. This is such a big disappointment at a time when he just talked about the Cold start doctrain. Not sure if we can still believe on those words. Do you think that army had enough weapons to guard our borders first?

    Please respond to this…

    Cheers

  9. Hi, I'm anon @ 2.26 & 2.27

    Dear AK, you don't need to make a single nut or bolt dear. All you need is to buy some other components OTS in place of the LHD suited stuff and bolt it in place. In fact when you order large quantities of trucks (as how India is, moreover with ToT and license manufacturing) Tatra themselves will offer RHD configuration. And if Tatra doesn't there are many others who will such as Volvo, Mercedes Benz etc. Or why go all the way to Europe, we have good old Tatas and Ashok Leylands who can easily build comparable trucks. Have you seen Tata trucks at the auto expo?

    Click here

    http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/auto-expo-2010/73042-tata-motors-auto-expo-2010-a.html

    You hit the nail on the head: These lazy and stupid bugger Babus need a good kick up their arses. It hurts to see a country that exports trucks and buses to even industrialized countries importing some crap East European ancient looking Tatras!

    Shiv Aroor dear, any take on this?Thanks

  10. Anon@7:51 AM

    You are obviously a rich NRI.
    But think about the poor MoD babus. How will they pay for their children's education in USA and their son's BMW? These poor MoD babu's life is more precious than the hundreds of soldiers killed because they do not have the basic kit like bullet proof vests and night vision goggles.

  11. Col VT Venkatesh(retd)

    As the person who conducted the final trials on the Pinaka,it makes me very proud to see the system being introduced into service.
    Hope the software has been upgraded to include more features like Fire mission planning,better integration with aerial observation platform etc.
    I dont know whether the system finally includes the Fire Direction Radar foir better first salvo effectiveness

  12. AK, I understand you 100%. The point here is not why did MoD Babu buy Tatra, but rather why couldn't they have bought a proper RHD vehicle? It would either have costed the same or a bit more per unit (extra lining for poor Babu). It shows they are not only self centered but also stupid and lazy!

    Picture of a RHD Tatra used by Israel: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/SPYDER.jpg

    But then now I wonder. Why would Israel (which drives on the right side of the road) buy a RHD truck then? Is there some reason? Like postmen in USA have RHD cars to eliminate the need to walk around the trunk / hood to get a delivery done (and vice versa in countries that drive on their left, having LHD vehicle postal fleet). Can't think of any scenario that will suit a MBRL though.

  13. While I agree with you on most case about babus' stated above. i differ on the use of Tatra. There are some unique features like swinging half axles and tube chassis which drastically improve off-road capability which is yet to be provided by Indian vendors.

    Also not so well known is the fact that Vectra is the largest shareholder(around 80%) of the consortium Tatra Holding s.r.o. that owns Tatra a.s. As per my understanding Vectra is owned by an Indian NRI.

    The reason you have RHD Tatra used by Israel is because that Spyder mounted on Tatra was meant for India.

  14. shiv first of all the pinka is an electromechanical launcher with only the stabalization being hydraulic(being the designer i should know :). secondly only 40 pinakas have been ordered by the army as of today. thirdly the software does include all mission planning and seamless integration with the command posts which further talk to the met radars and the likes
    feels awesome to see so many ppl talk about PINAKA

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