From nadir to zenith – a story that must be told

Time of India

23-05-2025

Gen Saxena is the former Director General of the Corps of Army Air Defence. He has been decorated three times by the President of India for his distinguished and selfless Service to the nation. The General is a Distinguished fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation and has held a Chair of Excellence at the United Services Institution of India. He is also a United Nations Scholar with an MPhil and PhD and a Law scholar at the National Law School of India University. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards in the Service. He has also been awarded by Institution of Electrical and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) for his seminal contribution in the development of Low Level Light Weight Radar The General is a prolific writer. He has authored five books and has to his credit hundreds of articles in various defence magazines covering the subjects like air defence, aerospace, military communication, cyber security, nuclear security and defence procurements. He gets published at the rate of 2-3 articles in a month across defence media of the nation. He is also a frequent face on the TV channels speaking on diverse issues in his core competency domain. General Saxena has also spearheaded a Project for the welfare of the families of martyrs and disabled soldiers. He is also a UN scholar with an MPhil and PhD and a law scholar pursuing qualifications in Human Rights, Child Rights and Medical law and Ethics. Gen Saxena is a prolific writer. He has to his credit hundreds of articles in various defence magazines and counting. His core competency domain includes air defence, aerospace, ballistic missile defence, unmanned aerial systems, military communications, cyber security, nuclear security and defence procurements. He has been decorated three times by the President of India. He has also been awarded by Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers for his contribution to radar design. LESS ... MORE
Fresh from the memories of Op Sindoor one was overwhelmed by the screaming headlines and got swept over by the avalanche of the 'breaking news (es)' that claimed to tell the story by the 'second'.
Amongst this high decibel imbroglio, one news that outdid all the rest was the news of the air defence warriors sounding a death knell to the enemy's air threat and one of their weapons that stole most of the limelight was Akash, our very own Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile ( SRSAM) system.
One heard repeatedly – Akash did this, Akash did that, Akash downed the deadly missiles and drones of the enemy. Clearly Op Sindoor was the validation of our 'pride' called the Akash
While all this was afoot, my memories went back some four decades. A bird chirped in my year…this story of Akash's journey from nadir to zenith must be told; that much for the caption.
I remember in the early eighties, it used to be professionally savvy for the young officers like me to be showing slides while our Commanding officers talked big about the acronym IGMDP with pride to the visiting dignitaries to the unit.
This longish acronym stood for Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme – the birthing ground of Akash. Actually IGMDP was a very ambitious programme of the Ministry of Defence for the R&D and comprehensive development of a series of SAMs- Prithvi, Trishul, Akash and Nag ( Agni was added later on) that started in 1982-83. I am sure; they could not have found a better Programme Director for IGMDP. Any guesses? Dr APJ Abdul Kalam! Need I say more?
I will pick up thread only for Akash and not for other SAMs, sticking to story.
The initial concentration of IGMDP was mainly on Prithvi. The Akash story picked up a few years into the programme. I remember we, the Air Defence Artillery then ( The Corps of Army Air Defence came into being in 1994) used to interact frequently with the first Project Director of Akash, Dr Prahalada; a charismatic person, a distinguished aerospace engineer and later a Padma awardee; above all a person with a 'never to say die' attitude.
To put it mildly, the initial years of Akash development were full of challenges and marked with failed deadlines year-on-year. There were multiple issues…a couple of times the missile would explode soon after leaving the launcher , in many other flight trials , the missile guidance radar will fail to 'gather' the article ( implying take it in its control for guiding it to the target). On many other occasions, the target lock would break, in some others the guidance would fail making the missile go astray midflight. Those were challenging times indeed.
Also, there were major challenges to perfect the design of the passive array radar that could guide multiple number of missiles on multiple targets at the same time. Even after multiple tests, the challenges remained daunting.
A situation was reached sometime around 2002-03 when there were opinions of even not accepting the weapon system in the Army. Project Trishul (another project under IGMDP for quick reaction SAM) was also treading rough shod beseeched with multiple developmental challenges ( a few years down the line in 2008 , Project Trishul faced a closure as a technology demonstrator).
Somehow Akash continued despite inordinate time and cost overruns and the single reason behind it was the spirit and confidence shown in the weapon system fundamentals by its successive Projectors.
Talking of Project Directors, Dr Prahalada was succeeded by one very knowledgeable Dr Panyam ( may God bless his soul). At the time when Dr Panyam took over, Akash was riddled with multiple challenges. Dr Panyam brought a new life into the system based on his extensive grip over the guidance , control and propulsion technologies. Challenges still started in the eye.
Around the same time the LRDE (and Radar Development Establishment) which was addressing the challenges of phased array and fire control radars started to see initial successes. Things were finally looking up as the missiles could now be gathered and there were no premature explosions, Once Dr Panyam passed , the reigns were taken over by Mr Chandramauli an equally competent Project Director.
The journey here onwards was on an upswing. The weapon system went though a series of successful flight trials. In 2007 Indian Air Force completed the user trials for the missile. The recommendations for various improvements to be incorporated in the weapon system continued to be tested and validated years later. The Army version on mobile launchers was still some distance away in 2007 as the challenges of mobility and quick deployment were very huge. The years 2008-13 saw multiple validation tests addressing various challenges for the Army version.
Cut to Feb 2024, 21 Feb to be exact, the Akash Army version had come a long way and was now deployed for pre-induction trails at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur Orissa. Four tests were planned 1. Low flying target at near; 2. A high altitude target at long range; 3. A crossing and approaching target and 4. A ripple firing test of two missiles from the same launcher on a receding target.
The trials were a success. The final hurdle before induction was crossed.
Few months later on 05 May 2015, dawned the day when Akash Missile system was finally inducted into the Army Air Defence. This humble self as the Director General of the Corps of Army Air Defence then, had the singular honour to receive the symbolic key of Akash from the then Chief of the Army Staff Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag.
A dream had come true, A journey of three decades and more which had the lows, as much lows as the non-acceptance of the weapon system in the Army had finally reached the Zenith.
Who knew at that time that this weapon system will prove its worth in the face of the enemy 10 year later!
Akashe Shatrun Jahi. Induction ceremony Akash Weapon system into Army Air Defence 05 May 2015
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