Bhubaneswar: Air-to-Air missile Astra was successfully flight tested off Odisha coast Tuesday, Principal Spokesperson of Ministry of Defence has said.
The missile was launched Tuesday from an Indian Air Force Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft as a part of user trials. The live aerial target was engaged accurately demonstrating the capability of the indigenous air-to-air missile.
The mission profile was executed in a text book manner. Various radars, electro-optical tracking system (EOTS) and sensors tracked the missile and confirmed its engagement with target.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Air Force teams for the successful test, said a press notification issued by Ministry of Defence.
Astra is an all weather beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile developed by DRDO. It is the first such missile to be developed by India. It features mid-course inertial guidance with terminal active radar homing. This missile is designed to be capable of engaging targets at varying ranges and altitudes allowing for engagement of both short-range targets at a distance of 20 kilometres and long-range targets up to a distance of 80-110 kilometres.
Astra has been integrated with Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi Su-30MKI and will be integrated with Dassault Mirage 2000 and Mikoyan MiG-29 in the future. Limited series production of Astra missiles began in 2017. This missile has been tested since September last with an Indian Ku-band seeker developed by the DRDO’s Research Center Imarat (RCI) in Hyderabad.