Astra: India's first indigenous BVR Air-to-Air missile

1/8

<b>Economictimes.com</b><br><br>India's first indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Air-to-Air missile 'Astra' was tested successfully recently. The air-launch was captured by side and forward looking high speed cameras.<br><br><i>Read on to know what's special about this missile by the DRDO and enjoy some stunning pictures of the test launch. Also don't miss out on a special video of the test launch:</i><br><br><i>Image by: DRDO</i>

The indigenously developed missile from the DRDO is an all-weather weapon with active Radar terminal guidance.<br><br><i>Image by: DRDO</i>

According to DRDO, the missile boasts of excellent ECCM features, smokeless propulsion and process improved effectiveness in multi-target scenario.<br><br><i>Image by: DRDO</i>

The Astra missile was test fired from a Sukhoi Su-30MKI. The missiles have undergone rigorous testing on Su-30 in the captive mode for avionics integration and seeker evaluation in 2013.<br><br><i>Image by: DRDO</i>

The Su-30MKI aircraft of the IAF was modified by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited along with IAF specialists.<br><br><i>Image by: DRDO</i>

The importance of having an indigenous air-to-air BVR missile cannot be over-stated with IAF jets currently armed with very expensive Russian, French and Israeli missiles.<br><br><i>Image by: DRDO</i>

The project has reached the final stage of testing and evaluation, and the Mk-II variant of the missile with higher range capability is also planned to be tested by the end of 2014.<br><br><i>With inputs from TNN</i><br><br><i>Image by: DRDO</i>