India's supersonic, medium-range surface-to-air Akash missiles on Wednesday successfully intercepted fast moving targets in a test carried out from a defense base in Odisha. And a pilotless aircraft, Akash was bang on target.
The missile was launched from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) of Chandipur in the coastal Balasore district of Odisha, about 230 km from Bhubaneswar amid clear and dry weather.
Weather in Odisha had turned unusually rainy in the last few days due to a low pressure system in the Bay of Bengal. Both Bhubaneswar and Balasore witnessed torrential rain of over of 150 mm in a span of 24 hours on Sunday night, which then continued through Monday. As the rain belt shifted to Bihar and West Bengal, the weather in the state turned mainly dry from the 27th and 28th of May.
Unlike many aircrafts, which are weather-dependent, Akash is a missile that can provide all-weather capability and can be used even in bad meteorological conditions both at the time of launch and at the target location. The Akash battery has four radars and four launchers interlinked together and controlled by the Group Control Centre (GCC). Each launcher, equipped with three missiles, is controlled by one radar that can track 16 targets.
The 700 kg all-weather missile Akash can carry a 60-kg warhead at speeds of up to Mach 2.5 (speed of sound). It can operate autonomously and simultaneously can also destroy maneuvering targets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), fighter aircraft, cruise missiles, as well as other ballistic missiles launched from helicopters. It can be launched from static or mobile platforms, enabling flexible deployment by the armed forces.
Akash is developed as part of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program to achieve self-sufficiency in the area of surface-to-air missiles. It is the most expensive missile project ever undertaken by the Union government in the 20th century.
