Article Posted on : - Apr 14, 2016

A file photo.

BALASORE, ODISHA (PTI): For the third day on Wednesday, India's indigenously-developed surface-to-air Akash missile was successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near here.

"Two more rounds of test of Akash missile were conducted on Wednesday," said Defence Research and Development Organisation officials.

The missile successfully targeted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) 'Banshee', they said adding similar trials of the missile were conducted on Tuesday and on Monday.

The missiles, with a strike range of 25 km and with a capability to carry 60 kg warhead, were test fired from the launch complex-3 of the ITR, they said.

Akash is a medium range Surface-to-Air Missile with multi-target engagement capability. It uses high-energy solid propellant for the booster and ram-rocket propulsion for the sustainer phase.

The propulsion system provides higher level of energy with minimum mass, compared to conventional solid/liquid rocket motor, which has better performance with minimum weight of the missile. It has a dual mode guidance, initially on command mode from a phased array radar and later radar homing guidance with unique software developed for high accuracy.

The phased array radar provides capability for multiple target tracking and simultaneous deployment of missiles to attack four targets at the same time, in each battery.

Multiple batteries constitute a group centre. The system is highly mobile and has gone through a number of flight trials providing the command guidance, the officials said.

It can fly at supersonic speed ranging from Mach 2.8 to 3.5 and can engage aerial targets up to a range of approximately 25 km.