Balasore (Orissa): Akash, the indigenously built surface-to-air medium range missile, was test fired from the integrated test range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea, about 13 km from Balasore today (Jan 14, 2004), for second time within two days.

The missile, fired from a mobile launcher at 2.08 PM, hit a target dropped from an AN-32 aircraft, Defence sources said.

The missile which was test fired yesterday (Jan 13) was also directed at a moving target. Weighing about 650 kg, it has the capacity to carry a 50 kg payload.

It uses the ramjet propulsion system, the sources said.

The multi-target missile with a range of 25 km is one of the five missiles- Agni, Prithvi, Trishul, Akash and Nag -currently under various stages of development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The Agni II version, with a range of 2000 to 2500 km, had become operational while its shorter range Agni I was not yet handed over to the Army.