India twice test-fires air-to-air Astra missile (Second Lead)
By IANSMonday, January 11, 2010
BALASORE - 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.
