India on Monday test fired surface-to-air missile Akash twice from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 13km from Balasore in Orissa, official sources said.

The indigenously built sophisticated medium range multi-target missiles were fired from separate mobile launchers at about 3.55 pm and 3.57 pm, respectively.

With a range of 25km, Akash is one of the five missiles currently under development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The DRDO is developing medium range anti-aircraft missile Akash and the Rajendra radar to build a reliable air defence shield. The state-of-the-art radar, Rajendra, can keep track of 64 aircraft simultaneously with various ranges.

The 650kg Akash missile is capable of carrying a 50kg payload and uses an integrated two-stage ramjet propulsion technology.