The Defence Research and Development Organisation flight-tested the indigenous Pralay missile on 5 November at about 11.10 am from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the coast of Odisha. The launch was part of user evaluation trials, the stage at which a weapon is assessed for operational use by the services.
The Defence Ministry said the missile met all planned objectives. Range instruments at the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur collected the data used to confirm its performance. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called the test a significant achievement for India's defence research and development ecosystem and said the data from several range instruments validated the results. Senior DRDO officials, industry representatives and armed forces personnel were present.
The weapon
Pralay is a quasi-ballistic missile built for precision strikes with conventional, non-nuclear warheads, intended to let India respond quickly to emerging threats. It was developed by DRDO's Research Centre Imarat in Hyderabad with support from other DRDO laboratories, and Bharat Dynamics Limited is a development and production partner.
The Defence Ministry has indicated that induction into the armed forces is close, though it has not given a date. In late 2025 DRDO fired two Pralay missiles in quick succession from the same launcher, a salvo test intended to show that the system is reliable and can be launched in rapid sequence.
What has not been disclosed
Neither the ministry statement nor the trial coverage gives figures for range, speed, warhead weight, guidance or launcher. Those details remain unpublished, and any claim about them should wait for an official release. What the test does show is that the programme has moved from development firing to evaluation by the users who would operate it.
The trial also fits a wider push to build strike weapons at home and cut reliance on imports. The next markers to watch are further user trials, any contract for series production and the formal date of induction.
