Akash missile Successfully Test- fired for third time in 5 days

[Ambitious.Asian]

Monday, May 28, 2012,

Balasore: India on Monday test-fired two indigenously developed "Akash" missiles in quick succession from a test range in Odisha.

The test-fire of the surface-to-air anti-aircraft defence missiles was the third in five days.

Last week, India had twice successfully test-fired the indigenously developed missile from the test range at Chandipur near Balasore.


The tests were conducted on May 24 and 26.

The missile has a strike range of 25 kilometres with warhead of 60 kilograms.

Akash, an anti-aircraft defence system, can simultaneously engage several targets with ‘Rajendra’ radar developed by Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), a DRDO laboratory situated at Bangalore. Rajendra does the surveillance, tracks the target, acquires it and guides the missile towards it.

The development of Akash missile took place during 1990s under country’s integrated guided missile development programme (IGMDP). After many trials, was inducted into armed forces in 2008. An air-force version of ‘Akash’ missile has also been developed by DRDO.

Rajendra is a multifunction radar, capable of tracking as many as 64 targets and controlling up to 12 missiles simultaneously.

Defence experts have compared Akash missile system with the American MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system.

They claim that like the MIM-104, the Akash is capable of neutralising aerial targets such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles.


Akash missile test-fired for third time in 5 days

 

[RoYaL~GuJJaR]

Awesome ...

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

Congrats for this achivement

 

[Raje amar]

its a bit confusing, saw report of failuer of 2nd trial conducted on 26th .

the report appered only in The Hindu, it was discussed on the fourm also.

what is the exact status????????

 

[Pakistanisage]

Phew ! Finally.......

 

[RPK]

India test fires Akash missile twice


India test fires Akash missile twice
Bhubaneswar, May 28 (IANS)
India Monday successfully conducted two tests of its medium-range surface-to-air missile Akash from a defence base in Odisha, an official said.

The indigenously developed missile, which has a range of about 27 km and an effective ceiling of 15 km, was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range of Chandipur in the costal district of Balasore, around 230 km from here, as part of the user trials.

"Both the tests were successful," M.V.K.V. Prasad, director of the test range, told IANS. The Akash missile had been successfully tested from the same range Thursday and Saturday.
Akash has a launch weight of 720 kg and carries a 55 kg payload. It can fly at a speed of up to Mach 2.5 and climb up to an altitude of 18 km. It can operate autonomously, and engage and neutralise different aerial targets simultaneously.

It can be launched from static or mobile platforms providing flexible deployment.

 

[Firemaster]

its a bit confusing, saw report of failuer of 2nd trial conducted on 26th .

the report appered only in The Hindu, it was discussed on the fourm also.

what is the exact status????????

So the glitches has been rectified (If there were really any)

Has this system ever tested for a highly maneuverable Target ??

 

[baker]

i dont know why MOD is reporting all the test [actually it is a user trial] to media.... from my understanding none of the SAM system in the world has 100% kill rate......

 

[illusion8]

was the two tests against a target or was it just flight trials?

 

[IND151]

very good news

 

[RPK]

Two surface-to-air Akash missiles were test-fired in a quick succession from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, off the Odisha coast on Monday with one of them failing to hit the target and falling into the sea.

Both the post-production tests were carried out as part of regular user exercises by Indian Air Force personnel in which the missiles were fired from road mobile launchers.

In the first test conducted at around 10.30 a.m, the indigenously-developed missile veered off its flight path within a few seconds of its launch after reaching a height of a few hundred metres. The details for its failure would be analysed to find out the exact cause, official sources told The Hindu.

In the second trial, the 5.8 metre long missile and its ground system worked perfectly and met all the mission objectives which included interception of the target and a “pitch-up manoeuvre”.

The live warhead of the missile was disabled as it was close to interception of the target, a flying Pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA), ‘Lakshya, apparently to ensure that the latter was not destroyed. About 45 seconds later the missile moved to a higher altitude and the warhead self-destructed itself as pre-programmed.

The purpose of second mission was to ensure that the missile moved to a higher altitude and the warhead self-destructed itself in case it missed the target instead of falling nearby the launch area in a real war scenario.

Earlier during two separate trials last week, Akash missile failed to hit the target on Saturday, while it homed on to ‘Lakshya’ successfully on May 24.

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IDMDP), the medium range Akash surface air-to-missile has been already inducted into the Army and Air Force. With a strike range of 27 km, the missile can carry a 60 kg warhead and simultaneously engage several targets with ‘Rajendra’ radar developed by the Bharat Electronics and Radar Development Establishment.

Two more tests would be conducted later this week as part of revalidating the operational efficacy of the missile.


The Hindu : News / National : Two Akash missiles test-fired

 

[deckingraj]

Well this time it is the Air force version

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Science : Air Force version of

b/w can anyone throw light on what is different in Air-Force vs Army version?? Both the missiles have practically same requirements i.e. save the ground target from an air assault whether it is in the form of cruise missile, aircraft, drone...

 

[air marshal]

Akash missile fails a routine test flight

Bangalore, India (UPI) May 31, 2012

India's defense industry experts are investigating the failure of the surface-to-air missile Akash to lift off during a test in which it was to hit a target in flight.

The medium-range Akash was launched from the Integrated Test Range at Balasore in Orissa state to hit a target pulled by a pilot-less Lakshya aircraft flying over the Bay of Bengal, a report by The Hindu newspaper said.

However, the missile failed to launch from its mobile land launcher and immediately tumbled onto the ground, the news Web site IBN Live said.

Five minutes after the first missile's failure, a second missile was launched and hit its target, IBN said.

The flights of the Akash missiles were a routine post-induction test, The Hindu newspaper said, and more similar tests are planned for the missile that was developed for the army and air force by the government's Defense Research and Development Organization.

The Lakshya drone, which reportedly performed well, also is a DRDO development project that was first used in 1985 and is manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

The recoverable drone is powered by a HAL PTAE-7 turbojet and has a crushable nosecone to absorb the impact of heavy landings that may occur during its two-stage parachute descent. It flies at just under 30,000 feet and has a maximum speed of around 530 miles per hour.

Around 3,000 of the 18-foot Akash missiles have been built by Bharat Dynamics and Bharat Electronics since production began n 2009. The missile is guided by a phased-array fire control radar called Rajendra -- named after India's first president Rajendra Prasad.

Defense experts have compared the Akash missile system to the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile manufactured by Raytheon in the United States. Similar to the MIM-104, the Akash can neutralize aerial targets, including unmanned aerial vehicles, fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles, the defense news Web site Defense Professionals said.

The development of Akash missile took place during 1990s under India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program that ran from the early 1980s up to 2007 to set up a range of missile defense systems. The program was managed by the DRDO in conjunction with other Indian government labs and research centers.

Apart from the Akash, the program's systems include the short-range surface-to-surface Prithvi ballistic missile, intermediate range surface-to-surface Agni missile, short range low-level surface-to-air Trishul missile and the third-generation anti-tank Nag missile.

Akash missile fails a routine test flight