With air-defence procurement drawing attention across multiple countries, the Akash surface-to-air missile system — a domestically developed platform that saw operational use during the India-Pakistan conflict of May 2025 known as Operation Sindoor — has attracted growing interest from potential buyers abroad. Rajesh Kumar Singh, serving as Defence Secretary, told an audience that three nations had taken delivery of the Akash air defence platform.
A senior official disclosed for the first time that two Central Asian nations — Turkmenistan and Tajikistan — had procured the air defence system, with Armenia noted as the initial buyer, having taken delivery of multiple batteries. Products of that kind were subsequently shipped to buyers in both Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Speaking to a prominent broadcast outlet on 1 October 2026, the Defence Secretary indicated that additional orders for the country's own services had already been placed, and that further demand from various regions around the world — including those raised by the interviewer — was expected to follow. Singh characterised Akash as a product of domestic capability, describing it in his remarks as one of the programme's standout achievements.
He added that output of the Akash missile system has reached a steady rate, with purchase orders from foreign nations on the rise even as deliveries to the Indian Armed Forces continue — a platform he described as well-suited to engaging fast-moving threats from the air. Output levels have held steady.
The development points to growth within the country's domestically driven missile engineering and manufacturing sector. Engineered by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Akash weapon platform operates as a road-mobile, short-to-medium-range surface-to-air system capable of shielding ground forces — whether on the move, in semi-fixed positions, or stationary — along with other assets, against a broad spectrum of airborne threats.
According to technical documentation, the weapon's reach extends between 25 and 30 kilometres, with an operational ceiling of roughly 18 to 20 kilometres, and its warhead delivers 60 kilograms of high-explosive fragmentation capability; the system's integrated multi-sensor architecture is described as processing data in real time to assess threats and handle several incoming targets at once, regardless of their approach direction. Designed for adaptability, the platform supports both group and independent operation while remaining open to future scaling.
According to documentation from BEL, the system's manufacturer, the missile is directed toward its target through command guidance, with a phased array radar handling tracking and terminal engagement.
India's arms export activity places it among the suppliers vying for defence contracts in Central Asia, a region that has historically relied on Russia for weapons but has been diversifying its sourcing as Moscow remains engaged in the war in Ukraine. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan both operate air defence systems supplied by Beijing, a pattern that places China at the centre of the region's procurement landscape — and one that gave India's transfer of the Akash system to the area a broader strategic context.
Part of the rationale behind procuring Akash traces back to how the missile system performed in active operations against Pakistan under Operation Sindoor. Ravi Kumar Gupta, a former DRDO scientist, expressed the view to a broadcast outlet that the Akash system holds advantages over comparable platforms because of its adaptability.
Gupta noted that while comparable surface-to-air systems tend to operate within narrow altitude bands and climate-specific conditions, the Akash missile platform carries no such geographic or atmospheric restrictions, functioning across a broad range of environments worldwide; because the technology was developed domestically, he added, adjustments to meet individual buyer specifications remain both cost-effective and technically feasible, with the platform's construction lending it durability suited to demanding operational theatres.
Aerial strikes conducted by the Indian Air Force against what were described as militant infrastructure sites deep inside Pakistani territory on 7 May 2025, carried out under the banner of Operation Sindoor, were followed by a Pakistani military response designated Operation Bunyan al-Marsus, which involved successive waves of unmanned aerial vehicles — among them platforms of Chinese and Turkish manufacture — alongside missiles, rockets, and additional airborne munitions directed at both military installations and populated areas along India's western frontier. Over 600 unmanned aerial vehicles were launched in a coordinated wave along India's western front at a single moment.
Woven into a broader, multi-layered air-defence architecture — one drawing on the S-400, Barak-8/MRSAM, legacy platforms such as the Pechora and OSA-AK, counter-UAS grids, and the command-and-control infrastructure of IACCS and Akashteer — the Akash air defence system held its position throughout the exchanges, with available reporting pointing to a complete absence of successful strikes by the incoming Pakistani drones and missiles.
During the formal media session covering Operation Sindoor, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, serving as the Air Force's Director General of Air Operations, pointed to the Akash air defence system as a domestic capability that had held up against incoming aerial threats, describing it in a statement as a standout example of indigenously developed weaponry. Rajiv Ghai, who subsequently held the position of Deputy Army Chief, told reporters that BrahMos, Akash, and a range of other domestically developed platforms and weapons contributed to the outcomes seen during Operation Sindoor — with Akash drawing particular attention for its performance against threats operating at low to medium altitudes, a role its indigenous construction, ease of movement, ability to track multiple targets simultaneously, and relatively contained procurement costs made it suited to fill given the nature of the aerial challenges that arose throughout the operation.
Contemporary accounts noted that the Akash tracked and neutralised incoming drones, loitering munitions, and swarm formations, while also bringing down guided missiles at low altitude before they could complete their flight paths. According to unnamed defence officials quoted in Indian media, the Akash surface-to-air missile system — capable of intercepting targets within a 25-kilometre radius — demonstrated utility against a range of aerial threats, among them fixed-wing aircraft, armed UAVs, and the Turkish-made Byker YIHA III loitering munitions, with one official describing its performance against aircraft and related platforms as having been highly effective.
That marked the first documented instance of the system being deployed under active combat conditions. Reports indicate that the Akash system was deployed operationally, with two aircraft understood to have been brought down as a result.
Speaking to a prominent television channel in the days following the ceasefire declaration of 10 May 2025, former DRDO chairman Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy described the development as a proud occasion for everyone involved. Gaddamanugu Chandramouli, who led the Akash project at DRDO and devoted his career to the missile system's development, told a television channel in May 2025 that the domestically developed platform had been deployed in a combat environment for the first time and had demonstrated reliable performance under operational conditions.
The Akash Weapon System, a surface-to-air defence platform, drew attention from other nations upon its introduction, with its architecture allowing it to track and engage several targets at once through either Group or Autonomous operating modes. Onboard electronic countermeasure systems are integrated into its design. Launchers and related hardware travel on wheeled or tracked carriers, keeping the full system deployable from multiple locations.
Rotary-wing aircraft, fixed-wing jets, and unmanned aerial vehicles all fall within its targeting envelope, which stretches from roughly four kilometres out to around 25 kilometres. The system operates without human input and moves from detecting a target to neutralising it within a short interval. According to the organisation, a single firing unit operating on command guidance can track and neutralise up to four airborne targets at the same time, with each target reachable at distances of 25 kilometres.
