The Akash air missile defence system platform developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has now been saught by nine foreign nations from Southeast Asia and Africa, ANI reports.
Akash is a surface-to-air missile and has a range of 25 kilometres and was inducted in the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2014 and was inducted by the Indian Army in 2015.
“Besides Akash, there is interest coming in other major platforms like Coastal Surveillance System, Radars and Air platforms. To provide faster approvals for export of such platforms, a Committee comprising of Raksha Mantri, External Affairs Minister and National Security Advisor has been created,” the Ministry of Defence revealed through an official statement.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a concerted effort to sell weapons to foreign nations and be part of this lucrative industry and to meet the target of $5 billion worth of defence export.
At the same time such sales also improve bilatral relations with other nations and there is also more security cooporation.
To ensure more orders are placed in the future, a high powered committee comprising of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has been formed to authorise the sale of major indigenous platforms to multiple countries.