Bharat Dynamics Limited To Supply The Indian Air Force with Akash Missiles
Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and the Ministry of Defense have agreed to a $67 million contract for the production and supply of Akash missiles to the Indian Air Force. The ministry did not disclose a delivery date in the deal signed on 8 July.
BDL’s Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd) said, “BDL is supplying Akash Missiles to the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force. With the announcement from the Union Cabinet regarding clearance of the ‘Akash’ weapon system for export, the company is exploring offering Akash for export to foreign countries. The firm has already received export leads from foreign nations expressing their interest in procuring the missile. BDL has a well-established infrastructure and expertise to execute these orders and meet the customer delivery schedule,”
BDL is the main manufacturing agency of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP), which produces weapons for both the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army. The Nag, Agni, and Trishul missiles, as well as the Prithvi ballistic missile, were all developed as part of the program. The Akash missile was also developed under the integrated guided missile development program, IGMDP. The Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Army both have their own variants of the missile (IA).
According to the information given by BDL, the Akash missile, currently manufactured by Bharat Dynamics, weighs 720 kg, has a 60 kg explosive payload, can target airborne targets at a range of 25 kilometers and a altitude of 20 kilometers, and can travel at speeds of Mach 1.8 to 2.5. The missile’s kill probability is 88 percent, although this can be boosted to 98.5 percent by launching a second missile five seconds after the initial launch. The missile has repeatedly passed the test fire phase, indicating that it is one of the best missiles in this category.