AFP, BHUBANESWAR, India: India on Wednesday test-fired its surface-to-air Akash (Sky) missile for the second time in two days, officials said.
Officials from the Defence Research and Development Organisation said the Akash was launched at 2:08 pm (0838 GMT) from a mobile launcher and it successfully hit a target that was air-dropped from a military aircraft.
The 650-kilogram (1,430-pound) Akash, which has been tested six times so far, carries a 50-kilogram (110-pound) warhead and is designed to travel 25 kilometres (15.5 miles).
The indigenously-built Akash was test fired from Chandipur-on-sea in eastern India.
India's other anti-aircraft missile, the Trishul (Trident), can deliver a 15-kilogram (33-pound) warhead up to nine kilometers (five miles) away.
Trishul has been tested eight times and will soon enter mass production.
Both Akash and Trishul are part of India's ambitions to develop an air defence and assault system which includes a 5,000-kilometre (3,100-mile) ballistic missile that can transport a one-tonne nuclear warhead.
