The government has approved the export of the indigenous Akash missile system. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has welcomed the move and said it will help India increase its revenue from defence export

India will start exporting the indigenous Akash missile system as it got an approval for the same from the cabinet. Defence minister Rajnath Singh announced the development on Twitter in a series of tweets.

“Under the #AtmaNirbharBharat, India is growing in its capabilities of manufacturing wide variety of Defence platforms and missiles,” Rajnath Singh said.

“The Cabinet chaired by PM @narendramodi ji today approved the export of Akash Missile System and a Committee for faster Approvals has been created."

Singh went on to say that the Akash missile system is an important defence asset for the country with over 96 per cent indigenisation. He also noted that the Akash is a surface-to-air missile with a range of 25 kilometres. These are the same missiles that were test fired by India a few weeks ago.

Developed by DRDO, it is India’s first indigenously designed missile system and can target fighter jets, cruise missiles, drones and other aerial assets.

“The export version of Akash will be different from System currently deployed with Indian Armed Forces,” Singh added.

The defence minister further added that the government intends on exporting high-value defence platforms to achieve a target of $5 billion of defence export and also improve strategic relations with friendly nations.

The minister added that the export of the Akash missile system will open the door for increasing the number of big platform defence exports.

“So far, Indian defence exports included parts/components etc. This decision by the Cabinet would help the country to improve its defence products and make them globally competitive,” he added.

The share of domestic procurement in overall Defence procurement is about 60 per cent. In order to enhance procurement from domestic industry, it is incumbent that procurement is doubled from the current Rs 70,000 crore to Rs 1,40,000 crore by 2025.