The government on December 30, 2020, approved the export of the indigenously developed Akash Missile System. The decision has been taken to achieve the target of USD 5 billion of defence export and for improving the strategic relations with friendly foreign countries.
The Union Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh welcomed the move and mentioned that it will help India in increasing its revenue from defence export. He added that under Atmanirbhar Bharat, India has been growing and developing its capabilities of manufacturing a wide variety of defence platforms and missiles.
The Defence Minister shared the news on his official Twitter account and stated that the decision by the union cabinet will help India in improving its defence products.
Under the #AtmaNirbharBharat, India is growing in its capabilities of manufacturing wide variety of Defence platforms & missiles.
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 30, 2020
The Cabinet chaired by PM @narendramodi ji today approved the export of Akash Missile System and a Committee for faster Approvals has been created.
Committee created for faster approvals:
Defence Minister while informing about the decision of the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi of approving the export of Akash Missile system also mentioned that a committee has been formed for the faster approvals of the exports of such kind of platforms.
The committee comprises of External Affairs Minister, Defence Minister, and National Security Advisor and will authorize subsequent exports of essential indigenous platforms to various countries. The committee will also explore various available option which includes the government-to-government route.
Plan to increase defence export:
The defence minister assured that the export of the missile will open doors for increasing the export of big defence platforms. The interest has been coming in for other major platforms such as radars and air platforms, Coastal surveillance system.
The minister mentioned that so far, the defence exports included only components/parts and the export of big platforms was very minimal. But this decision will help India in improving its defence products and to make them globally competitive.
He added that the indigenously developed Akash missile system is an important defence asset for India with over 96% indigenization. The minister also noted that Akash is a surface-to-air missile having a range of 25 km.
About Akash Missile System:
The Akash Missile system has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and is the nation’s first indigenously designed missile system. It can target drones, cruise missiles, fighter jets, and other aerial assets.
Akash Missile was inducted into Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2014 and in the Indian Army in 2015. However, the export version of the Akash Missile system will be different from the one currently deployed with the Indian Armed Force.
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