DRDO successfully test fires new version of Akash air defence missile

DRDO on Monday successfully test fired the new version of the Akash surface to air defence missile system with a new indigenously-developed seeker.

The missile was test-fired in Balasore off the Odisha coast.

This is the second successful test of the missile in last two days as a successful test was done by them on Saturday also.

This is a new version of the missile fitted with an indigenous seeker.

Akash missile is a medium range Surface to Air Missile with multi-target engagement capability.

The missile was developed as part of Integrated Guided-Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) other than Nag, Agni, Trishul, and Prithvi missiles.

The supersonic Akash missile has a range of around 25 km and up to the altitude of 18,000m.

The missile uses high-energy solid propellant for the booster and ramjet-rocket propulsion for the sustainer phase. The missile system is said to be highly mobile.

Several variants of the missile- Akash MK1, Akash-MK2 with improved accuracy and higher ranges are under development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The Akash missile system was formally inducted into the Indian Air Force on July 10, 2015, and in Indian Army on May 5, 2015. In September that year, the Defence Acquisition Council cleared seven additional squadrons of the missile for the Air Force.

However, the missile system has been bogged in controversies with a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in 2017 stating that as many as 30 per cent of the missiles failed when tested.

The Indian Army too had said in 2017 that the missile does not meet its operational requirements due to higher reaction time.

India is slowly plugging holes in its air-defence elements by developing advanced surface-to-air missile named MRSAM- Medium Range Surface to Air Missile in collaboration with Israel.

Besides that, five regiments of renowned S-400 air defence system are under procurement from Russia. The delivery is slated to begin in 2020.