Wednesday, Dec 01, 2004
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By Aniket Alam
HYDERABAD, NOV. 30. India's defence research reached a milestone when the surface-to-air missile Akash, carrying a live warhead, successfully destroyed a flying target at a height of 4.5 km over Chandipur-on-sea in Orissa today. Speaking to The Hindu over telephone from the test site, Prahalada, Director of the Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Laboratory, said, "This has been our dream for the past 20 years, and it is a matter of immense satisfaction that we have perfected such a missile." He said the target was attached to a pilot-less Lakshya sub-sonic aircraft. The missile was fired at 11.57 a.m. and hit the target at a 16 km. range at 12 noon with a 60 kg warhead. "This is the 38th test flight of Akash and with this, the development of the missile is complete." It is now ready for induction into the Army and Air Force. Senior Army and Air Force officials witnessed the successful test. Dr. Prahalada said that Akash was similar to the Patriot missile but had the advantage of an "air breathing ramjet propulsion." This allowed for greater manoeuvrability as the missile did not lose velocity till it hit its target. Like Patriot, Akash has a multi-target engagement capability with its radar system capable of tracking over 60 objects and targeting a dozen. The entire system has been indigenously designed and developed. It uses advanced software for navigation and target selection.
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