Akash Missile

- AKASH is a Short Range Surface to Air Missile system to protect vulnerable areas and vulnerable points from air attacks.
- The indigenously developed and manufactured Akash has a range of 25 km and can simultaneously engage multiple targets in all weather conditions.
- It has a large operational envelope from a low altitude of 30 metres to a maximum of up to 20 km.
- The Akash missile having a multi target, multi directional, all weather air-defence system consisting of surveillance and tracking radars, could take off at a speed of around 2.5 Mach and reach a high altitude of 18 kms and as low as 30 meters.

Mach is used as a unit of measurement in stating the speed of a moving object in relation to the speed of sound. For example, if an aircraft is travelling at Mach 1, it is travelling at exactly the speed of sound.

As part of efforts to boost defence exports, the Union Cabinet has approved the export of the Akash short-range Surface to Air Missile (SAM) system.

To achieve the target of $5 bn defence exports and improve strategic relations with friendly foreign countries, the government intended to focus on exporting high value defence platforms.
So far, Indian defence exports included parts and components but the export of big platforms was minimal

The missiles were test fired against a Pilot less target aircraft (PTA) , Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Para-barrel, twice.

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