India test fires surface-to-air Akash missile

Balasore, Odisha: For the third time in a span of five days, India successfully test-fired the indigenously developed surface-to-air missile Akash missilesystem from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha today. "Like the trials of the surface-to-air missile conducted on 22 and 24 February, today's test fire of Akash was successful," a defence official said.[caption id="attachment_1409771" align="alignleft" width="380"] Akash missile. Reuters[/caption]These were part of a series of tests being conducted in various engagement modes from the first of Production Model system produced to equip two regiments of the Army, Directorate of Public interface, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) director Ravi Kumar Gupta said.Earlier tests flights, destroying a target in receding floating mode, as well as the one destroying an approaching target, fully met the mission objectives, a senior defence scientist said. Akash is India's first indigenously designed, developed and produced air defence system missile capable of engaging aerial threats up to a distance of approximately 25 km. The multi-target, multi-directional, all-weather air-defence system consisting of surveillance and tracking radars is designed to enable integration with other air defence command and control networks through secured communication links.Developed by DRDO, Akash is being produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) as the nodal production agency with the involvement of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and a large number of other industries. The total production value of Akash air defence systems cleared for induction by Indian Army and Indian Air Force is more than Rs 23,000 crore. G Chandramouli, project director, Akash supervised the overall trial operations in the presence of senior army officials and officials from BDL and BEL. PTI