The Army will finally get some desperately needed supersonic firepower to take on enemy fighters, helicopters, drones and subsonic cruise missiles after years of grappling with obsolete air defence weapons.What makes it even more significant is that the new weapon system is 96% indigenous.
The 1.13-million strong force will begin getting the Akash “area defence“ missile systems, which have an interception range of over 25 km in all weather conditions, from next month. Though quite late in coming, the Akash systems pack a formidable punch by being capable of tackling multiple aerial threats attacking from several directions simultaneously.
Defence ministry sources said Manohar Parrikar is slated to symbolically hand over the first Akash the surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) fired from mobile launchers with powerful multi-function radars to evaluate and track threats -to the Army in early April.
The Army initially ordered two Akash regiments for around Rs.14,180 crore.“The first full regiment should be ready by June-July, and the second one by end-2016,“ said a source. IAF has begun to deploy six Akash missile squadrons in the north-east to counter China's build-up of military infrastructure along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC), which includes eight fully-operational airbases in Tibet.
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