India Successfully Tests Surface-To-Air Akash Missile
January 8th, 2007 | 
Author: India carried out a successful test Dec. 13 of its surface-to-air Akash missile at an eastern coastal testing range, defense officials said.
The missile blasted off from the Chandipur-on-Sea testing site, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar and hit a flying target successfully, a defense ministry official.
The locally developed missile was lasted tested in January. The 700-kilogram (1,540-pound) Akash, meaning “sky” in Hindi, can track 100 targets simultaneously with onboard radar, move at 600 meters (yards) a second and deliver a 55-kilogram warhead across 27 kilometers in 50 seconds.
The test came a day after India announced plans to increase its nuclear prowess with a ballistic missile capable of hitting targets up to 6,000 kilometers (3,800 miles) away.
New Delhi also announced two tests this month of Indian manufactured interceptor missiles, saying they performed better than Patriot air-defense batteries manufactured by U.S. defense group Raytheon.
India has built a range of ballistic and cruise missiles as a deterrent to the arsenal of China with which it has an unresolved border dispute.
The missile development project is also to counter the acquisition of newer missiles by Pakistan, which carried out tit-for-tat nuclear weapons tests after India conducted a series of atomic detonations in 1998.
The two nations have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since the subcontinent’s independence from Britain in 1947.
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