India has sent its first consignment of 1,000 guided Pinaka rockets to Armenia, marking a major success for the country's indigenous defence technology and weapons manufacturing. The export was carried out by Solar Defence and Aerospace Limited, and it is the first guided consignment under a defence deal between the two countries.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flagged off this consignment of rockets in January 2026 from the Solar Defence factory in Nagpur, where the rockets are manufactured. The delivery now completes the first step of a deal that puts Indian-made guided rockets in the hands of a foreign army.
A Rs 2,000 Crore Deal
Armenia is buying the Pinaka system under a defence deal worth about Rs 2,000 crore. Along with the rockets, the country is also being supplied four Pinaka rocket system batteries, ammunition and other equipment.
Armenia signed the deal to buy the Pinaka system from India in 2022, becoming the first foreign customer for this weapons system. Supply of the unguided Pinaka rockets began in 2023 and was completed by the end of 2024. Now the supply of guided rockets will further strengthen Armenia's military capability.
What Makes the Guided Pinaka Different
The guided Pinaka is the guided version of the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. It can hit targets more accurately than the unguided version, with a strike range of more than 70 km.
The guided technology lets the system target enemy positions with greater precision, which is the main advance over the rockets supplied earlier. For Armenia, which already operates the system, the guided rockets add a longer and more accurate reach to an arsenal it knows well.
From Buyer to Exporter
The rockets are being manufactured at the Solar Group's factory in Nagpur, and the achievement shows how far India's private sector has come in making advanced weapons and ammunition. A system developed by a public research body is now being built by a private company and sold abroad.
India is moving from being only a weapons buyer to becoming a major defence exporter supplying modern weapons to other countries. The Pinaka export is one of the clearest examples of that shift, and the guided consignment takes it a step further.
