BALASORE: After a ‘failed’ test on Tuesday, Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel successfully carried out another user trial of surface-to-air missile Akash from Integrated Test Range (ITR) off the Odisha coast on Wednesday. The missile targeted an aircraft, which mimicked the enemy fighter aircraft.
The indigenously developed sophisticated sleek missile having a strike range of 30 km was fired from the launching complex-III of the ITR at about 1.15 pm. On Tuesday, the missile had failed to hit the target. Prior to the launch of the missile in fully operational configuration, a lightweight and multirole aircraft Mirage was flown in a simulated coordination.
A DRDO official said the test was conducted as part of the operational exercise. Radars, sensors and telemetry tracking systems positioned at different locations tracked and monitored the missile’s trajectory parameters. “The mission met all parameters set by the user,” he said.
While the DRDO provided all logistic supports, IAF teams operated the deliverable Akash missile system including the target. The missile was successfully guided by multi-function phased array radar developed by Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), a DRDO Lab and produced by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
The missile used for the test was picked up randomly from the assembly line after production. As claimed by DRDO it has achieved single digit accuracy reaching close to zero circular error probability (CEP). The entire flight path of the missile was smooth in accordance with pre-decided coordinates.
Akash, one of the five missiles developed under Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), has already been inducted in the Air Force while the missile’s Army version is in the final stage of induction into the armed forces.
Even as the Air Force accepted the Akash missile system as a substantial part of its arsenal in February 2010, the missile was officially inducted into the Indian Air force at function at Hyderabad on March 3, 2012. The missile has been successfully tested several times at both high and low altitudes against maneuvering targets at extreme ranges.
Defence sources said the Akash system is fully mobile and capable of protecting a moving convoy of vehicles. While the system was primarily designed as an air defence surface-to-air missile, it also has been earlier tested in a missile defence role. The system provides air defence coverage for an area of 2,000 sq km.
The missile has been developed by Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) along with 13 other DRDO Laboratories and produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited. Its launcher has been developed by R&DE (Engineers), a DRDO lab and produced by Tata Power and L&T.