Army Inducts Indigenously-built Akash Surface-to-Air Missile

NEW DELHI - June 16, 2015 - PRLog -- According to an item published in the latest issue of Indian Military Review, more than three decades after the project was initiated, the Army inducted, on 5 May, the indigenously-developed supersonic surface-to-air missile Akash, capable of targeting enemy helicopters, aircraft and UAVs from a range of 25 kms.

Giving details, the new issue of Indian Military Review, published from New Delh said that the missiles, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will be a boost for the Army Air Defence (AAD) Corps, which had been grappling for years with obsolete air defence weapons.

Akash Missile System is an indigenously developed supersonic short range surface-to-air missile system (SR-SAM) with the capability to engage a wide variety of aerial threats like aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles up to a maximum range of 25 km and up to an altitude of 20 km.

The Akash Weapon System, which will be deployed facing the western borders, employs command to line of sight guidance and relies on sophisticated radars and control systems to guide the missile to its targets.

The Army has initially ordered two Akash regiments, with six firing batteries. The first full regiment should be ready by June-July and the second one by end of 2016.

The total cost of the order which includes hundreds of missiles is about Rs 19,500 crore.

The Army version is movable and is mounted on vehicles unlike that of the IAF. This means that it can be moved quickly based on operational needs. IAF has already inducted its own version of the missile system.

According to the developers (the DRDO, Ordnance Factories Board and Bharat Electronics), the new weapon is a multi-target, multi-directional, all weather air-defence system and can provide air defense missile coverage for an area of 2,000 square km.

The army version of the SAM system consists of surveillance and tracking radars, control centers and ground support systems mounted on high mobility vehicles.

One battery is capable of engaging up to 64 targets (a single radar can track up to 16 objects) and attack 12 different intruders simultaneously, including enemy fighters, helicopters, drones, and sub-sonic cruise missiles. The Akash supersonic missile can reach a top speed of up to Mach 2.5 and can be fired from both tracked and wheeled platforms, with command guidance throughout its entire flight.

The most important element of the Akash SAM system battery is its high-power, multi-function Rajendra phased-array radar.The 3D passive electronically scanned array Rajendra radar (PESA) can electronically scan and guide the missile towards targets. It provides information on the range, azimuth, and height of a flying target.

Interestingly, the Indian developers claim that the Akash’s solid-fuel technology makes it more accurate and economical to operate than the MIM-104 Patriot SAM system.

Two missiles fired in a ripple produce a single shot k [kinetic] capability of 98 percent. The 3D central acquisition radar which far beyond, up to 120 kms. As the target comes near, a state-of-the-art face tracking radar tracks the target, and the systems which control the missile precisely, according to Director General of AAD, Lt Gen VK Saxena.

The Indian Army will initially deploy two Akash regiments (approximately 2,000 missiles) with six batteries each over the next three years, whereas the Indian Air Force has ordered eight Akash squadrons (1,000 missiles), two of which have already been inducted into the IAF and are deployed in airbases at Gwalior and Pune. The total cost of the acquisition will be close to $6 billion.

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