India on Tuesday successfully test-fired Akash, the medium-range surface-to-air missile, from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, 15km from Balasore (in Orissa), defence sources told rediff.com.

The missile was fired from a mobile launcher at about 1140 IST.

The indigenously built sophisticated multi-target missile has a range of 25km and is one of the five missiles currently under various stages of development by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).

The 650kg missile has the capacity to carry a 50kg payload and uses the integrated two-stage ramjet propulsion technology.

Akash, which has undergone several flight tests earlier, is close to the user's trial stage, the sources said.

With inputs from PTI