There has been a growing military cooperation between Egypt and India throughout the past few years within the scope of joint training and sharing of technical know-how. For this reason, Egypt is considering Akash SAM as the new medium-range air defence system. However, Egypt is considering other options like the British CAMM.
Armenia and India inked a deal for Akash towards the end of 2023. The deal is another sign of Armenia’s turn to alternative suppliers following the growing distrust towards Russia after losing the Second Karabakh War.
Akash can be considered a counterpart to the Russian Buk air defence system in terms of structure and uses. The missile, one of India’s earliest air defence missiles, entered service in 2009.
Akash missile comes in two main versions. The baseline Akash is a ramjet-powered missile with a range of 30 km and a maximum altitude of 20 km. This version has a command midcourse guidance with an RF seeker for the terminal phase. The missile can be carried by tracked armoured vehicles and trucks.
The most significant change in the newest variant, Akash-NG, is the transition to a dual-pulse rocket engine providing better range. Other improvements on the missile include carriage inside canisters (whereas legacy Akash is exposed on the launcher), a new RF seeker and an optics-based proximity fuse.
Akash-NG missile was tested against a high-speed target UAV at a low altitude on 12 January 2024 for validating the entire Akash-NG system.
