IAF orders another 750 Akash surface-to-air missiles

[NSG_BlackCats]

BANGALORE: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has ordered an additional 750 Akash medium-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) from state-run defence behemoth Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) at a cost of Rs 42.79 billion ($925 million), it was announced on Tuesday.

"A decision to place this fresh order with BEL was taken after the IAF expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Akash missiles that are deployed in two squadrons," defence minister AK Antony said on Tuesday.

The IAF will deploy 125 missiles each in six squadrons as and when BEL delivers them. "The first order for 250 missiles was placed last year on a pilot basis. The IAF has decided to deploy the weapon in more squadrons for optimal use," Antony said after inaugurating the digital flight control (DFC) computer facility at BEL here.

BEL chairman and managing director Ashwani Kumar Datt said that the first order was worth Rs 12.21 billion. Designed and developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Akash missile defence system is part of the country's integrated guided missile development programme.

"The missile can target an enemy aircraft up to 30 km away, at altitudes up to 18,000 meters and can be fired from both tracked and wheeled platforms," Datt told reporters on the margins of the function.

The missile is capable of carrying conventional as well as nuclear warheads with a payload of 60 kg. On the occasion, BEL also handed over to the defence minister an advanced gun fire control system for the Indian Navy.

Source

 

[LCA Tejas]

BANGALORE: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has ordered an additional 750 Akash medium-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) from state-run defence behemoth Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) at a cost of Rs 42.79 billion ($925 million), it was announced on Tuesday.

"A decision to place this fresh order with BEL was taken after the IAF expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Akash missiles that are deployed in two squadrons," defence minister AK Antony said on Tuesday.

The IAF will deploy 125 missiles each in six squadrons as and when BEL delivers them. "The first order for 250 missiles was placed last year on a pilot basis. The IAF has decided to deploy the weapon in more squadrons for optimal use," Antony said after inaugurating the digital flight control (DFC) computer facility at BEL here.

BEL chairman and managing director Ashwani Kumar Datt said that the first order was worth Rs 12.21 billion. Designed and developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Akash missile defence system is part of the country's integrated guided missile development programme.

"The missile can target an enemy aircraft up to 30 km away, at altitudes up to 18,000 meters and can be fired from both tracked and wheeled platforms," Datt told reporters on the margins of the function.

The missile is capable of carrying conventional as well as nuclear warheads with a payload of 60 kg. On the occasion, BEL also handed over to the defence minister an advanced gun fire control system for the Indian Navy.

Source

Thats a wonderful News buddy, keep coming....

 

[sab]

Nice to see our local products are now satisfying our Force....

 

[ssheppard]

That's 2 Akash Missile for every JF17.... LOL

 

[LCA Tejas]

Nice to see our local products are now satisfying our Force....

Its really a good one dude, no doubt abt it...

 

[LCA Tejas]

That's 2 Akash Missile for every JF17.... LOL

Ahh, that was not a good answer dude...

 

[chantpapipart2]

great news...

 

[jha]

That's 2 Akash Missile for every JF17.... LOL

this could very well be avoided....
expect harsh replies from the other side..

 

[ssheppard]

this could very well be avoided....
expect harsh replies from the other side..

Ready as ever....... LOL

 

[RajeHind]

Check out this slide show

 

[Laughing Buddha]

India’s long-criticised Akash anti-aircraft missile is now blazing towards success. Its counterparts in the DRDO’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, 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 DRDO’s Chief Controller for R&D, Prahlada, has confirmed that the army is displaying fresh interest in the Akash. Asked for details, Prahlada told Business Standard, “I cannot say whether the army is interested in the Akash for its strike corps, or for another role. In any case, the Akash is a mobile system that is suitable for various roles.”

But protecting fast-moving tank columns from enemy fighters is what the Akash does best. For years the DRDO laboured to fit the entire Akash system — including radars, missile launchers and command centres — into T-72 tanks. This provided the Akash with the cross-country mobility to advance deep into enemy territory along with Indian Army strike corps, shooting down enemy fighters at ranges as far out as 25 kilometres.

Planned as a replacement for the army’s obsolescent Russian SAM-6 Kvadrat, the heart of an Akash missile battery is the Hyderabad-developed Rajendra phased-array radar that tracks up to 64 enemy fighter aircraft simultaneously, in a radius of 60 kilometres. The mobile command centre selects up to four of the most threatening air targets, and two Akash missiles are fired at each from the T-72 based Akash launchers, which move alongside. The Rajendra radar continuously guides the missiles, eventually “flying” them smack into the enemy fighters.

Theoretically, a “ripple” of two Akash missiles has a 99 per cent chance of shooting down a modern fighter aircraft. Practically, however, in 9 live Akash trials so far, all 9 missiles that were fired hit their targets. Videos of the firing trials, witnessed by Business Standard, show the Akash missiles smashing their targets into tiny fragments at ranges beyond 20 kilometres.

The DRDO has taken 20 years to develop the cross-country mobile, tank-mounted version of the Akash missile system that the army is now interested 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.

A top DRDO scientist at the missile complex in Hyderabad points out, “Western countries like France, which make missiles in the technological league of the Akash, don’t mount the entire system on a tank, something that the Indian Army insists on. Only the Russians build tank-mounted missile systems, but their missile technology is far inferior to that of the Akash. All that the Russians can offer today is the next generation of the Kvadrat.”

The defence PSU, Bharat Electronics Limited, is the nodal production agency for the Akash missile system, supported by a broad consortium of Indian public and private sector manufacturers who contribute components and sub-systems. Bharat Dynamics Limited manufactures the solid-fuel, two-stage, ramjet Akash missile itself.

 

[Laughing Buddha]

 

[Dark Angel]

Army warms up to Akash missile


India’s long-criticised Akash anti-aircraft missile is now blazing towards success. Its counterparts in the DRDO’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, 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

But protecting fast-moving tank columns from enemy fighters is what the Akash does best. For years the DRDO laboured to fit the entire Akash system — including radars, missile launchers and command centres — into T-72 tanks. This provided the Akash with the cross-country mobility to advance deep into enemy territory along with Indian Army strike corps, shooting down enemy fighters at ranges as far out as 25 kilometres

A top DRDO scientist at the missile complex in Hyderabad points out, “Western countries like France, which make missiles in the technological league of the Akash, don’t mount the entire system on a tank, something that the Indian Army insists on. Only the Russians build tank-mounted missile systems.

Army warms up to Akash missile

 

[jha]

yahan to purane news post karne ki race lagi hai....

guys plz donot post old news just for the sake of posting...thank you..

 

[shekhar]

good news for indian defence industry