Akash Unleashed: The Homegrown Weapon That Blocked Pakistani Drones And Made Us An Arms Exporter

When Pakistani drones and missiles screamed done nan skies toward 15 Indian cities, nan consequence wasn’t conscionable swift — it was a showcase of India’s self-made firepower. Spearheading nan defence was Akash, nan indigenously developed surface-to-air rocket strategy that not only held nan statement but pushed backmost — hard. 

The Akash strategy “was instrumental successful intercepting and neutralising aggregate dispute aerial threats crossed nan occidental theatre,” defence officials told news agency ANI. Developed by DRDO and manufactured by BDL and BEL, nan Akash strategy has been successful Indian work since nan 2010s. But nan caller cross-border flare-up has fixed it a caller aura — not conscionable arsenic a guardian of Indian skies but arsenic a globally applicable limb system. 

Each artillery integrates missiles, launchers, surveillance and occurrence power radars, and a mobile bid station — a afloat spectrum consequence package that is wholly road-mobile and deployable connected short notice.

Deployed crossed cardinal separator sectors from Punjab to Kashmir, nan rocket system's powerful Rajendra radar systems tin observe incoming targets — drones, cruise missiles, and perchance parented aircraft.

Akash crews, operating mobile launchers mounted connected wheeled and tracked platforms, tin respond wrong seconds. The missiles tin  travel astatine supersonic speeds betwixt Mach 2.5 and 3.5. Each rocket is reportedly equipped pinch a 60 kg high-explosive, pre-fragmented warhead designed for airburst detonation adjacent nan target.

The Akash system’s termination probability is astir 88% pinch a azygous missile, and up to 99% successful salvo mode.

What made Akash peculiarly effective successful this operation, according to experts, was its expertise to grip aggregate targets simultaneously. 

With nan capacity to way up to 64 threats and prosecute 12 astatine once, it played a important domiciled successful India’s integrated aerial defence.

Armenia was nan first to ink a woody — reportedly worthy complete ₹6,000 crore — for nan Akash strategy successful 2024. Since then, enquiries person surged from Vietnam, nan Philippines, Brazil, and Egypt. With complete 96% indigenous content, India is offering not conscionable missiles, but complete systems — radars, support vehicles, logistics — everything a customer needs.

What makes Akash genuinely guidelines retired is its cost-performance ratio. Built astatine a fraction of nan costs of Western aliases Russian systems, Akash combines rugged reliability pinch lethal capability. The upcoming Akash-NG variant, presently successful precocious testing, promises to double nan scope to 80 km, adhd canisterised launchers and progressive radar seekers, and amended guidance to jamming — each features honed from lessons of modern warfare, including drone-heavy conflicts for illustration nan Russia-Ukraine war.

Published on: May 9, 2025 11:52 AM IST