India's homegrown air defense system finds new buyers

Former DRDO Chairman Samir Kamat said India has exported its Akash surface-to-air missile system to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, extending New Delhi’s defense export reach into Central Asia for the first time.

The Akash is a medium-range air defense system built to intercept aircraft, helicopters, drones and cruise missiles. Bharat Dynamics Limited manufactures the missile, using radar and command-and-control systems developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation. Kamat did not specify how many systems were delivered, their configuration, or the value of the deals.

His statement follows earlier reporting in August that said Turkmenistan and Tajikistan were negotiating purchases of the newer Akash Mk 1S variant but had not yet signed formal contracts. It is not clear whether the exports Kamat described represent those same deals reaching completion, or a separate delivery. Neither Indian officials nor the two Central Asian governments have released further detail.

Armenia was the first, and until now the only confirmed, foreign buyer of the Akash system, signing a deal for the Mk 1S variant and beginning deliveries in late 2024. That sale gave India a track record it has pointed to since in pitching the system elsewhere in the former Soviet space.

The Mk 1S upgrade adds an Indian-developed active radio-frequency seeker for terminal homing, on top of the command guidance the missile uses during its mid-course flight. That combination is meant to improve accuracy against maneuvering targets and make the missile harder to defeat with electronic jamming than the original, purely command-guided Akash. The system uses India’s Rajendra phased-array radar to track and engage multiple targets at once, a capability suited to defending fixed sites and stretches of border rather than a single point target.

Tajikistan and Turkmenistan currently rely mainly on older Soviet and Russian-made air defense equipment, including S-125, Kub, Buk and S-300 systems. Aging stockpiles and changing aerial threats have pushed both countries to look at diversifying their suppliers, a dynamic Armenia’s earlier purchase is seen as having encouraged elsewhere in the region. As with Armenia, where the initial missile sale was followed by additional purchases of Indian radar, artillery, rocket systems and vehicles, further Indian defense sales to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan could follow if the Akash purchases are confirmed.

The moves would add to a broader shift in Central Asia’s arms market, a region long dominated by Russian suppliers, toward a wider set of options that now includes India’s defense industry.

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