Russian military analyst Evgeny Damantsev has published a detailed technical assessment of India’s Pralay tactical ballistic missile, portraying it as a highly specialized strike system designed to defeat modern air and missile defence networks through a combination of launch flexibility, advanced guidance, and aggressive terminal maneuvering.
Damantsev’s analysis follows the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) recent successful user trials of the missile off the coast of Odisha, tests that Indian officials said confirmed the system’s operational readiness and reliability under field conditions. The trials have drawn attention beyond India, with foreign analysts increasingly examining Pralay’s role in South Asia’s evolving missile balance.
According to Damantsev, one of the most notable aspects demonstrated during the trials was the missile’s ability to conduct rapid “salvo launches” from a single mobile launcher. The system reportedly fired two missiles in quick succession, underscoring the robustness of its transporter-erector-launcher platform and its suitability for saturation strikes. Such a capability is seen as critical in scenarios where overwhelming an adversary’s missile defence shield requires multiple, closely timed threats rather than isolated launches.
Technically, Pralay is described as a two-stage, solid-propellant tactical ballistic missile featuring a detachable warhead. Guidance is primarily inertial, with satellite-based GPS updates improving mid-course accuracy. Damantsev notes that the guidance architecture has been designed with growth potential in mind. The missile can reportedly be upgraded with an active–passive homing seeker, enabling it to lock onto radio-contrast targets or home in on radar emissions. This would allow Pralay to engage not only fixed infrastructure, such as command centers and logistics hubs, but also mobile and high-value targets like air defence radars and missile batteries.
The Russian analyst places particular emphasis on the missile’s terminal phase, which he argues is central to its survivability against interception. Pralay employs folding lattice-type aerodynamic fins on its warhead, allowing it to retain control authority at very high speeds and perform sharp evasive maneuvers during the final stages of flight. Following the boost phase, during which the missile reportedly reaches speeds of around 6,480 km/h, the warhead sustains velocities ranging from roughly 1,300 to 850 meters per second while actively maneuvering toward the target.
Operational flexibility is another feature highlighted in the assessment. The missile’s payload can vary significantly, with warhead masses ranging from approximately 350 kilograms to nearly 1,000 kilograms. This allows military planners to tailor missions by trading payload weight for extended range or, conversely, maximizing destructive power for shorter-range, high-priority targets.
Damantsev’s review of available technical data and trajectory graphics suggests that Pralay follows a non-traditional flight profile. While it exceeds Mach 5 during key phases, it does not rely solely on a classic ballistic arc. Instead, the missile conducts mid-course maneuvers within the atmosphere, creating a segmented hypersonic trajectory. Each segment involves controlled deviations intended to disrupt enemy radar tracking and complicate the engagement calculations of anti-ballistic missile systems.
The terminal attack profile is described as particularly demanding for defenders. In the final moments, the missile reportedly descends to a lower altitude before executing a sharp “pull-up” maneuver, followed by a steep, near-vertical dive onto the target, potentially approaching a 90-degree impact angle. Most point-defence systems are optimized to counter threats arriving on flatter, more predictable paths, making such a profile especially challenging to intercept.
By combining high-G maneuvers with terminal speeds still in the Mach 3 to Mach 4 range, Pralay significantly compresses the reaction time available to interceptors. Damantsev concludes that this places the missile in a niche category—positioned between conventional quasi-ballistic systems and more advanced hypersonic glide vehicles—while remaining highly effective against contemporary air and missile defence architectures.
As India continues to refine its tactical missile forces, assessments like Damantsev’s suggest that Pralay is emerging as a key component of New Delhi’s precision-strike and deterrence toolkit.
