5 Trials Of Air-To-Air Missile ‘Astra’ Off Odisha Coast Successful

The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successful flight tested air-to-air missile Astra from Su-30 MKI off the Odisha coast between September 16 and 19, a PIB release said.

The five trials were conducted by Indian Air Force (IAF) against Jet Banshee target aircraft simulating all possible threat scenarios.

“Three missiles were launched in combat configuration with warhead. maneuvering targets were neutralized to establish the end-game capability of the missile. The trial campaign also included a direct hit of the target by a tele-metered missile at maximum range. The successful trials have proved the end-to-end performance of the missile in different combat scenarios,” the release stated.

The trials of Astra will culminate with induction of the missile system into Indian Air Force.

More than 50 public and private industries have contributed in building the missile, which also has midcourse guidance and radio-frequency seeker-based terminal guidance to achieve target destruction with pin-point accuracy.

Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO, Dr G Satheesh Reddy congratulated the team ‘Astra’ and said that the technologies developed under the programme will be the building blocks for development of future variants of air-to-air and surface-to-air Missiles.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO and IAF teams for the successful trials.