Cabinet Approves Export of Akash Missile System 

Cabinet Approves Export of Akash Missile System 

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III –Trade; Defence and Security

In news 

• Recently, Cabinet approved export of Akash Missile System. 
•  Under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat, India is growing in its capabilities of manufacturing wide variety of Defence platforms and missiles.

Key takeaways 

• Akash is country’s important missile with over 96% indigenisation. 
• Akash is a Surface to Air Missile with a range of 25 Kms. 
• The missile was inducted in 2014 in IAF and in 2015 in Indian Army
• A Committee is created for faster approval of exports.
• This Committee would authorise subsequent exports of major indigenous platforms to various countries. 
• The Committee would also explore various available options including the Government-to-Government route. 
• Government of India intends to focus on exporting high value defence platforms, to achieve target of 5 Billion USD of defence export and improve strategic relations with friendly foreign countries.
• The export version of Akash will be different from System currently deployed with Indian Armed Forces.