BALASORE: The country’s first indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile Astra was test-fired successfully from fighter aircraft Su-30MKI by the Air Force from a naval range off Goa on Friday.
Defence sources said the launch conducted at an altitude of six km was a control and guidance flight, which successfully demonstrated interception of an electronically simulated target at long range.
On June 9, a similar trial was conducted from the same defence base. Both the tests conducted to demonstrate the aerodynamic characteristics of the missile, have demonstrated the repeatability, robustness and endurance capability of Astra as a weapon system.
Astra is indigenously designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and has high Single Shot Kill Probability, making it highly reliable. Astra is an all aspect, all weather missile with active radar terminal guidance, excellent ECCM features, smokeless propulsion and process improved effectiveness in multi-target scenario, making it a highly advanced and state-of-the-art missile. Sources informed that the trial would be followed by launch against actual target shortly. Many more trials have been planned and would be conducted to clear the launch envelope. Weapon integration with Tejas Light Combat Aircraft would also be done in the near future.
Congratulating the team, Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and DG of Defence Research and Development OrganisationAvinash Chander attributed the continuing success of the development trials to the joint efforts by the DRDO and IAF working together as team.
Astra is designed for an 80-km range in head-on mode and 20 km-range in tail-chase mode. The 3.8-m long missile, which has a launch weight of about 154 kg, uses solid-fuel propellant and a 15 kg high-explosive warhead, activated by a proximity fuse. Fitted with a terminal active radar-seeker and an updated mid-course internal guidance system, the missile could locate and track targets. It is difficult to track this missile as its onboard electronic counter-measures jam signals from the enemy radars. As an anti-aircraft missile, it could be fired after receiving a signal from the faraway target through its onboard manoeuvres based on radio frequency.