India's New Generation Akash-NG Missile Intercepts, Destroys High-Speed Aerial Target In Flight Test, Paving The Way For User Trials

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday (12 January) conducted a successful flight-test of the New Generation AKASH (AKASH-NG) missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

"The flight-test was conducted against a high-speed unmanned aerial target at very low altitude," the DRDO said in a statement.

During the flight-test, the target was successfully intercepted by the weapon system and destroyed, it said.

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According to the DRDO, the test has validated the functioning of the complete weapon system consisting of the missile with indigenously developed Radio Frequency Seeker, Launcher, Multi-Function Radar and Command, Control and Communication system.

The system performance was also validated through the data captured by a number of Radars, Telemetry and Electro Optical Tracking System deployed by ITR, Chandipur.

The flight-test was witnessed by senior officials from DRDO, Indian Air Force (IAF), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

The AKASH-NG system is a state-of-the-art missile system capable of intercepting high speed, agile aerial threats.

The successful flight test has paved the way for User trials, the DRDO said.

Akash-NG is a medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile defense system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited and Bharat Electronics.

This missile is a successor to the Akash and Akash-1S series of missiles with improvements such as a Dual-pulse solid rocket motor, a canisterised launcher and an AESA Multifunction targeting radar to improve its probability of kill with a smaller ground operations and logistics footprint.

Akash-NG has been developed with better deployability compared to previous generation Akash SAM systems with canisterised launcher and much smaller ground system footprint.

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