BHUBANESWAR: India on Tuesday successfully test fired Surface to Air Missile (SAM) Akash against an actual target from a defence base off Odisha coast.Defence sources said, the supersonic missile with indigenous radio frequency seeker was fired against British drone Banshee from Launch Complex-III at Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 1.38 pm. The Radars, telemetry and electro-optical systems along the coast have tracked and monitored all the health parameters of the missile. This is the first surface-to-air missile with indigenous seeker that has been test fired.
The launch operations were witnessed by Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister (SA to RM) and Director General (Missiles) of DRDO G Satheesh Reddy, Director of DRDL MSR Prasad, Programme Director G Chandra Mouli and ITR Director BK Das. Reddy congratulated all the DRDO scientists and Armed Forces for the success.With this, India has achieved the capability of making any type of surface-to-air missiles. This missile is being inducted into Army as Short Range Surface to Air Missile (SRSAM).