Astra Missile: India’s Indigenous Beyond-Visual-Range Missile

September 20, 2019

Made in India, it has been developed by DRDO and almost along with 50 other public and private organisations. These public and private sector companies have been involved at various stages of their development. It has a range of over 70 km and can fly towards its target at a speed of over 5,555 km per hour

Five successful test-flights of air-to-air missile Astra have been conducted by the Defence Research and Development Organisation from Sept 16-19, over the Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast.

There were more than 50 public and private industries which have been involved in building the Astra weapon which also has midcourse guidance and radio-frequency seeker-based terminal guidance to achieve the target destruction with pinpoint accuracy.

The trials were being conducted by the Indian Air Force of these Beyond Visual Range missiles which were fired from the Sukhoi-30 MKI platform from Chandipur. These were against the Jet Banshee target aircraft which was simulating all possible threat scenarios.

According to Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials, “Configured with a warhead, three missiles were launched in combat mode. And, manoeuvring targets were neutralized to establish the end-game capability of the missile.”

The successful trials have proved the end-to-end performance of the missile in different combat scenarios which also had a direct hit of the target by a telemetered missile at maximum range.

The mission parameters and objectives were all met during the trials with all subsystems performing accurately. The missile has a range of above 100 km and also has modern guidance and navigation techniques.

Know more about Astra missile

• This is an indigenous Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Astra missile.
• It has a range of over 70 km and can fly towards its target at a speed of over 5,555 km per hour.
• It has a 15-kilogramme high-explosive pre-fragmented warhead.
• Made in India, it has been developed by DRDO and almost along with 50 other public and private organisations. These public and private sector companies have been involved at various stages of their development.
• For the IAF trials, the modifications of the Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft to accommodate these missiles have been carried out by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Courtesy: FE Online