France is in advanced talks to procure India’s Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) system, according to a Reuters report.
Paris earlier assessed the system as a replacement for its unitary rocket launchers (LRU), a French version of the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System.
The country is left with nine LRUs after donating four to Ukraine.
“France is in active talks for Pinaka,” Reuters quoted the director general of missiles and strategic systems at India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation as saying.
“A deal has not been reached yet, but the talks are continuing,” he added.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged French President Emmanuel Macron to take a closer look at the system during his recent visit to Paris.
“Prime Minister Modi also invited the French Army to take a closer look at the Pinaka MBLR, emphasising that an acquisition of this system by France would be another milestone in Indo-French defence ties,” a joint statement by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs read.
French MBRL Replacement
An LRU replacement is being sought under the French Feux Longue Portée-Terre, or Land Long Range Fires, program as the system is expected to retire by 2027.
A total of 180 million euros has reportedly been allocated to purchase 13 MBRL systems by 2030. The goal is to buy an additional 13 systems by 2035.
The replacement should have a range of 120 to 500 kilometers (75-311 miles), a huge leap over the LRU’s 70 kilometers (43 miles), Zone Militaire wrote, citing Chief of Staff of the French Army General Pierre Schill.
Additional systems being studied as potential replacements include the American M142 HIMARS, Euro-PULS from Elbit Systems/Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, and the South Korean K239 Chunmoo.
Pinaka
The 214mm system saw its first deployment in the 1999 Kargil war between India and Pakistan while it was still being trialed. Its first full-rate production order was placed in 2007.
The Pinaka MK 1 has a range of around 40 kilometers (25 miles), while the MK 2 can hit targets 75 kilometers (47 miles) away.
Two new versions, with ranges of 120 kilometers (74 miles) and 300 kilometers (186 miles), were approved for development last year.
