DRDO Successfully Tests Next-Gen Akash Surface-To-Air Missile, Fully Indigenous

India has reached a major milestone in the field of the surface to air missile development as today it has successfully conducted the first test of ¡®Akash Next Generation¡¯ (also known as Akash NG) missile.

The Akash Next Generation missile system testing was concluded successfully at a DRDO defence facility off the coast of Odisha today.

ANI

Reported first by PTI, the missile was launched from a mobile platform installed at the Launching Complex-III of the Integrated Test Range at 2:30 PM IST at an electronic target.

The missile system successfully met all the mission objectives with the performance as per expectations, revealed an official statement by DRDO (Department of Defence Research and Development Organisation).

The statement also highlighted that the Akash missile system intercepted the target with textbook precision and the launch met all test objectives by performing high manoeuvres during the trajectory, "Performance of the Command and Control system, onboard avionics and aerodynamic configuration of the missile was successfully validated.¡±

To the uninitiated, Akash-NG is a latest-generation Surface-to-Air Missile that will be in operation by the Indian Air Force for helping it takedown and intercept high manoeuvring aerial threats.

It is capable of tackling multiple targets as well as destroying manoeuvring targets such as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), cruise missiles, and jet fighters. The missile travels at supersonic speeds and is capable of taking down both subsonic and supersonic targets.

Reuters

The novel weapon system has been designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation from scratch with 96 percent indigenous content. The Akash Missile system has been designed with better deployability compared to other similar systems with canisterized launchers as well as a much smaller ground system footprint.

The successful test came just a few days after the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi agreed to export the state-of-the-art missile to ¡®friendly¡¯ nations.

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