NEW DELHI – India’s defence ministry has given the nod to purchase alocally-made short range surface-to-air missile to protect its airspacealong the border with China and Pakistanlink.The ministry said that it had withdrawn the global tender to purchase amissile system from foreign countries.
“In recent development, Short Range Surface to Air Missile global case hasbeen withdrawn and also awarded to Akash Prime,” India’s Minister of Statefor Defence Shripad Naik said on Wednesday in parliament, Sputnik hasreported.
Akash Prime is an advanced version of the home grown Akash surface-to-airweapon system, designed and developed by India’s Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation.
An advanced versionlink ofthe domestically made Akash will have upgraded “seeker technology, reducedfootprint for weapon system elements, 360 degree engagement capabilitiesand high altitude/low temperature operation” and the same system will bedeployed in the Himalayan region.
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Akash has a 96 percent indigenous component and a range of 25 km. Themissile, produced by Bharat Dynamics, uses a high explosive, pre-fragmentedwarhead that can engage multiple threats simultaneously. It has a largeoperational envelope, from a low altitude of 30 metres to a maximum of upto 20 km.
Previously, the Indian Army and Air Forcelinkhadnot shown much interest in the basic version of the missile system, andwere believed to be seeking a system which would have a sensor to track andtarget incoming missiles more accurately.
