India successfully test-fires medium range Akash missile
India on May 24 successfully test-fired indigenously-developed surface-to- air missile "Akash" missile, which carries a heavier warhead (60 kg) and has a range of 27 km, with an effective ceiling of 15 km. The missile was fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Odisha. The test firing of the surface-to- air missile came just a little more than a month after India launched Agni-V that has a range of more than 5,000 kilometers.
Akash was developed during 1990s under the country's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) after many trials. The missle hit its target - a pilot less Lakshya aircraft - at a pre-determined altitude over the Bay of Bengal. The microlite aircraft was launched from the launch pad number two of the testing centre just minutes before the test firing of the Akash.