• India on Tuesday successfully test-fired Akash its supersonic surface-to-air missile with indigenous radio frequency seeker from a test range in Odisha, officials said.
• The state-of-the-art indigenous missile targeting an UAV ‘Banshee’, was fired from the launch complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.
• Akash has a strike range of about 25 km and carries a 55- kg fragmentation warhead that is triggered by proximity fuse.
• It is an all-weather area air defence weapon system for defending vulnerable areas against medium range air targets penetrating from low, medium and high altitudes.
• Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Akash missile system has the capability to neutralise aerial targets like fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles as well as ballistic missiles.
• The system is designed to neutralise multiple aerial targets attacking from several directions simultaneously. The system is autonomous and its operation is fully automated. There is flexibility in deployment.

Source:TOI