India: Akash Completes Validation Trials

Last Wednesday 18th June, Indian Army successfully test fired the sophisticated Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Akash in a very low altitude near boundary mission from a defence base off the Odisha coast making the weapon system deliverable.

Akash missile, which has a launch weight of 720 kg, a length of 5.8 metres and a diameter of 35 cm, can carry a payload up to 50 kg and destroy a target 30 km away, flying at a supersonic speed of around 2.5 Mach and reaching an altitude of 18 kms. Akash mobile air defence weapon system has been designed, developed and led to production by DRDO for defending and protecting the important assets of the country from penetrating aerial attacks.

Congratulating the DRDO teams, production agencies and Army for successful demonstration of intercepting the target in a low altitude near boundary mission, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and DRDO Chief Avinash Chander said Akash system has great export potential: “The indigenous development, production and induction of Akash weapon system is a significant contribution to India’s self-reliance in air defence technologies,” he maintained. More than 250 industries are engaged in production and supply of various subsystems/components with military/aerospace grade quality for Akash missile and ground systems.

The trial was supervised by Project Director of Akash G Chandramouli and witnessed by Associate Director of LRDE RV Narayana, ITR Director MVKV Prasad, GM of BEL MM Handa, Director (Technical) of BDL NB Singh, Director General of Army Air Defence and other senior Army officials. This flight trial was last among the validation trials being carried out by Army on the first off production models of Akash supersonic missile.

Poland to purchase LM's AGM-158 JASSMs

As Rzeczpospolita broadsheet reports, Poland to purchase Lockheed Martin's AGM-158 missiles for his F-16s.

The strike capability of the AGM-158 is immense, as it is able to destroy targets at distances of 370 km (ca. 220 miles). This allows the Viper to destroy the target outside of the SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles) envelope, which is a major step in comparison to the current Polish A2G armament which has a maximum range of 70km. In other words, the AGM-158 might be considered a very modern long range strategic weapon.

Used by the USAF since 2003, this is one of the most modern missiles in the world. Technically, it uses an unique twin-guiding system working in two phases:

• In the first phase of flight, on a very low-level, the missile uses GPS guiding.
• In the final phase, seconds before striking the target the missile uses electronic-optical guiding.