New Delhi, July 11: The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday conducted two successful flight tests of indigenous beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile ‘Astra’ from Sukhoi fighter aircraft off the coast of Odisha.
The missile equipped with indigenous radio frequency seeker accurately targeted both the high-speed unmanned aerial targets of different distances during the tests.
According to the DRDO, during the tests, all the sub-systems including radio frequency performed as expected. It has been indigenously designed and developed by the DRDO. Range tracking equipment deployed at the Integrated Test Range of Chandipur confirmed the performance of the Astra weapon system through flight data. These successful flight tests have reestablished the accuracy and reliable performance of the Astra weapon system with indigenous seeker.
The air-to-air Astra missile has a range of over 100 km and is equipped with a state-of-the-art guidance and navigation system.
Apart from various the DRDO laboratories, more than 50 public and private industries including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited have contributed to the successful development of this weapon system.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh praised the DRDO, the Indian Air Force and industry involved in the design and development of the radio frequency seeker and said that the successful test of the missile with indigenous seeker is an important milestone in critical defence technology.
Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman, DRDO, Dr Sameer V. Kamat congratulated all the teams involved during the successful flight test.