AFP / AFX, BHUBANESWAR: India today successfully tested a surface-to-air missile for the second time in two days, a defence ministry official said.
The missile Akash — meaning sky in Hindi — was tested at a range in eastern Orissa state.
It was fired at 11:15 am from a mobile launcher at the Chandipur-on-Sea testing range, 200 kms northeast of Bhubaneswar, Orissa's state capital, the ministry official said.
The 700 kg missile, which hit a flying drone, was last tested on Friday.
Akash, which can track 100 targets simultaneously with onboard radar, can move at a speed of 600 metres per second and deliver a 55 kg warhead across 27 kms in 50 seconds.
Akash is being developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation which launched in 1983 a project to build an array of weapons. It hopes to cap the programme with a ballistic missile that can fly 5,000 kms.
