Photo 1: A rare photograph of the entire Akash system, including sensors, launchers, auto-loaders, support elements and control centres in one frame.
Photo 2: Start-up tests of the Akash missile battery.
Photo 3: The damn thing better work, God, the IAF is here with us.
Photo 4: And there they are, the Akash’s first user testers from the IAF.
Photo 5: Akash batteries on the ready, telemetry systems check.
Photo 6: A short break before launch. This one is Battery 2.
Photo 7: DRDO chief controller (R&D-SI) Dr Prahlada briefing scientists and users from the Army and IAF.
brilliant! thanks shiv! super stuff.
what is with the smug smiles on the air force walas? bloody hell. probably made up their minds about ordering only two squadrons of the akash before even witnessing the test. jackasses.
Kick ass stuff !
The officers look like typical customers, Just the attitude needed to make comments like “This tank performed very poorly” etc. Luckily Akash met all the parameters and hopefully will be inducted in large numbers and not in token presence like 2 squadrons
Hey but why does the rajendra radar look so sub-standard?
like some pieces of wood stuck here and there?
I recall seeing an american one which looked so smoooth and nice.. like solar panels.
To get what I’m saying, look @ the 1st picture. Looks like a piece of plank on top, and some paper draped over the rest of the area. WHY??
And another thing, what’s the induction status of Akash? Heard the Air Force has approved.. correct? how about army? or are they lobbying for some Russo systems as this, for them, is unsatisfactory?
Thx..
Megha, what you see is probably some sort of protective covering.
The Rajendra chassis in the first picture… I’m seeing it for the first time. Anyone know what it is?
mihir, its the new battery level radar-III made on the T-72 chassis.
Megha, reason why the radar appears without a “smooth” finish is because it is a first radar of a new series. It will have a lot of access panels, easily detachable systems coz it will be constantly modified, checked and played around with.
check the other rajendra radar in comparison and its finish is “smooth” and what not. thats because it is now a fully ready production system based on the bmp system for the indian air force.
mihir is right, the “piece of wood” on top is not wood but a iff system without the protective radome. the “paper” is a protective cover for the main antenna array
i worked at lrde with code and stuff ages back as a fresher when this was a prototype so my limited knowledge
SHIV
The rajendra can track 64 targets and engage 4. 20 figure is from 4 years back.
drdo is yet to update some of its brochures and what not, but 64 is what the rajendra can now track and engage
@anon if ur still there can u tell more about whats difference b/w blr3 and blr-2?
from what little i know, partly from surfing br and jc and others posts, the rajs latest version is the blr 3 developed for the army. its a development intended to overcome the limited mobility of the bmp based raj ie the blr-2. now from what i can see in the picture, there are 3 parts, one is the iff on top, there will be the main antenna below, thats the part u can see with the cream colored “paper” on top of it – it seems split into 2 parts which is just the radome, the actual anenna is hexagonal, the square on top with the brown background is probably the missile guidance array. dont know what the one on the left is. the overall size of the entire antenna assembly also seems to have been increased?!
also the earlier raj2 was split between 2 vehicles one with the control apparatus and other with the radar itself. the blr-3 seems to have all within itself.
this radar is going to be a huge step forward for india i think, 3d radars are the hard stuff, especially phased array ones.
the 2nd and 6th pic seem strange ….those tanks are the odd ones ….what are those huge boxes fitted on their front….why isn’t it fitted on other launchers…also y r they using only 2 missiles per launcher?