India Army and Air Force start second Round Trials for Akash SAM

Indian Army and Air Force personnel have planned a series of tests of surface-to-air nuclear capable missile Akash from Thursday.While in the first phase, three rounds had been planned by the Army wing in an intermittent gap, four rounds would be fired by the Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel. The tests would be conducted from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea.

Earlier from April 23 to May 2, five rounds of tests were conducted by the IAF, of which three rounds were successful. Though the missile has been induced in the IAF, successful trials by the Armed Forces would pave the way for its induction in the Army. While it was inducted in the Air Force on March 3, 2008, after years of rejection for faults in the missile system, the Army has finally agreed to induct the modified version of the missile.A defence official said preparation for the mission has been completed. “This time the missile would target a pilot-less target aircraft (PTA),” he said.

Akash is a mobile, multiple-target handling and medium range air defence missile developed under Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). The missile system is uniquely configured and customised both for Indian Army and Air Force. It has a strike range of 30 km and can be fired from both tracked and wheeled platforms.The missile is supported by multi-target and multi-function phased array fire control radar that is capable of tracking 64 targets and guiding up to 12 missiles simultaneously. The Akash system is comparable to the Patriot system of the US. It can destroy manoeuvring targets such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), fighter aircraft, cruise missiles and missiles launched from helicopters.