Akash test deferred by a day

BALASORE: The user-specific trial of surface-to-air Akash missile has been deferred to Thursday due to technical snags detected during the integration of the pilot-less target aircraft (PTA) which was to be used as the target for the missile.The anti-aircraft missile was to be test launched by the Indian Air Force from a makeshift launch pad prepared on the helipad near the launching complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off the Odisha coast on Wednesday.Sources said the PTA could not be readied for the mission. A snag was detected in the cable in the ground launcher which was rectified later. It is the first user trial by the IAF after the missile was inducted on March 3. Though the missile used to be test-launched from the launching complex-II of the ITR on earlier occasions, at the demand of the IAF a real time (war like) situation has been created for the series of tests.