On January 12, 2024, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful flight test of the new generation AKASH Missile.
The Missile Test
The test was conducted at 10:30AM from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha against a high-speed aerial target at very low altitude. According to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), during the flight tests, the target was successfully intercepted by the weapon system and was destroyed. The flight test was witnessed by senior officials from DRDO, the Indian Air Force. Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
“It has validated the functioning of a complete weapon system consisting of a missile with indigenously developed radio frequency seeker and launcher, multi-functional radar and command, communication and control systems, it said. The systems performance was also validated through data captured by a number of radars, telemetry and electro-optical tracking systems deployed by the ITR, Chandipur.
Dignitaries Involved
The Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) of India, Rajnath Singh has complemented the DRDO, IAF, PSU’s and industry for flight tests. “The successful deployment of the system will further enhance the air defence capabilities of the country”, he said. Apart from the defence minister, the Secretary of the Defence (R&D) and DRDO chairman Samir V Kamat also congratulated the teams associated with the successful launch and flight test of the AKASH-NG Missile
All About Akash Missiles
The AKASH-NG is a state-of-the-art missile system capable of intercepting high speed, agile air threats. The Akash series of Missiles have been developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with multiple advanced versions of the missile under development by the Akash team. There are many countries in the Middle East (West Asia) that have shown a keen interest in this weapon platform and its recent capability demonstrations in trials
It is a completely indigenous missile designed and developed by the DRDO but produced and manufactured by Defence Public Sectors Undertakings (DPSUs) along with other affiliated and allied industries. It has been deployed by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Army for the last decade. The current firing was done from the system, which was ordered in September 2019 as a repeat order from the IAF.
The Akash Weapon System is also one of the indigenous defence systems that have bagged orders from international customers It is being constantly upgraded by the DRDO Scientists involved in it and they may get more orders from Southeast Asia and West Asia
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