Modi Cabinet Nod For Indigenously-Developed Akash Missile Export

Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the proposal to export indigenously-developed Akash Missile System. A committee has also been formed for faster approvals.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted that under the Centre’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat, India is growing in its capabilities of manufacturing a wide variety of defence platforms and missiles.

He said Akash is country’s important missile with over 96 per cent indigenisation. The surface to air missile has a range of 25 km.

In a series of tweets the Minister mentioned that the export version of Akash will be different from system currently deployed with Indian Armed Forces.

So far, Indian defence exports included parts or components but the export of big platforms was minimal.

The decision by the Cabinet would help the country to improve its defence products and make them globally competitive, he mentioned.

The Government of India intends to focus on exporting high value defence platforms, to achieve the target of USD 5 billion defence export and improve strategic relations with friendly foreign countries, he stated.