NEW DELHI, Aug 17: India is set to shelve the development of a second anti-aircraft missile because delays have led to escalating costs and technical problems, a report said on Sunday.

According to the Hindustan Times, the homegrown medium-range surface-to-air Akash missile was supposed to give the army air cover, by eliminating enemy aircraft and missiles, and protect the air force’s vital defence capabilities. But delays in its development have made the 25-km range missile prohibitively expensive and the Indian army has already begun to look for alternatives in the international market, the report said.

One Akash under development, which comprised four missile batteries, was pegged at nine billion rupees in 1985 but had escalated to a current cost of 20 billion rupees, the report said.

Besides the steep price tag, technical problems also impeded the progress of Akash, the report said. The missile’s radar, meant to detect enemy targets and lock missiles onto them, covers only a 90 degree swathe. This means it cannot track enemy aircraft approaching from different directions at the same time, the report said.

Another problem was the limited speed of the missile which is about Mach 3, useful to target enemy aircraft but not enough for missiles, which travel at more than three times that speed, the report said. According to the defence ministry, the Akash can carry a 50kg warhead and can simultaneously track several targets. But the report said the missile’s response to unknown, multiple targets is in doubt because it had only been tested on known, single targets.

Though a final series of trials are scheduled for June 2004, the military does not see Akash being inducted, the report added.

Last month, reports said India’s defence ministry had shelved plans to develop a short-range surface-to-air Trishul missile due to technical glitches.

The Trishul, India’s version of the US-made Patriot, was powered by a solid fuel engine and configured to deliver a 15kg warhead up to nine kilometres away.—AFP