Indian Military Got Anti-Aircraft Akash Missile from DRDO
- Anti-Aircraft Akash Missile Included in Indian Military
The Army has finally said yes to the Akash area air defence missile system. It recently expressed interest in acquiring the 30-km range missile to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The Prithvi and Agni ballistic missiles were on target from the start; the anti-tank Nag missile will also enter service shortly; the Trishul short-range anti-aircraft missile was abandoned unceremoniously. Now, after years of rejection from the military, the Akash is being accepted as a world-class missile.
The Indian Air Force’s order last year for two Akash squadrons, dismissed by skeptics as a face-saving burial for the Akash programme, has just been doubled with a fresh Indian Air Force order for 16 more launchers that will be stationed in northeast India.
The DRDO has taken 20 years to build up the cross-country mobile, tank-mounted version of the Akash missile system that the army is now paying attention in. Criticism of this delay has been vocal, but the DRDO counters by pointing to the quality of its product: the Akash, says the DRDO, is the only system of its kind available globally.
