India twice test-fires air-to-air Astra missile (Second Lead)
January 11th, 2010 - 4:16 pm ICT by IANSBalasore (Orissa), Jan 11 (IANS) India Monday twice successfully test-fired the home-grown short-range Astra air-to-air missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off the Orissa coast, an official said.
The beyond visual range missile was first test-fired at 9.45 a.m. and then at 12.06 p.m.
“It was a very good flight,” ITR Director S.P. Dash told IANS after the tests.
Astra is a high-end tactical missile that is envisaged to intercept enemy aircraft at supersonic speeds in head-on mode at a range of 80 km and in a chase mode at 20 km.
The missile is intended for the Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi Su-30MKI, Mirage 2000H, Mirage 2000, MiG-29, MiG-21 Bison and Tejas combat jets, as also the Indian Navy’s Sea Harrier jump jets.
It resembles an elongated Matra Super 530 missile and uses an in-house developed solid fuel propellant, though its developer, the Defence Research and Development Organisation, is believed to be looking at rocket/ramjet propulsion similar to that used in its Akash surface-to-air missile project.
The missile was first tested in May 2003.
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Tags: combat jets, defence research, development organisation, enemy aircraft, harrier jump jets, indian air force, indian navy, itr, mirage 2000, mirage 2000h, orissa coast, range missile, sea harrier, solid fuel, sukhoi, supersonic speeds, surface to air missile, tactical missile, test fires, test range