Indigenous ASTRA missile tested from Tejas

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CategoryDefence

Last Updated25/08/2023

Recently, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas successfully fired the ASTRA off the coast of Goa.
The Defence Minister said the launch would significantly enhance the combat prowess of Tejas and reduce the dependency on imported weapons.

It is a state-of-the-art Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile to engage and destroy highly manoeuvring supersonic aerial targets.
- BVM missiles are capable of engaging beyond the range of 20 nautical miles or 37 kilometres.
It is designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and other laboratories of DRDO.
It will be deployed on fighter jets like Sukhoi-30 MKI and Tejas of the IAF and the Mig-29K of the Navy.

The missile has been designed based on requirements specified by the IAF for BVR as well as close-combat engagement.
It reduces the dependency on foreign sources.
AAMs with BVR capability provide large stand-off ranges to own fighter aircraft.
It can neutralise adversary airborne assets without exposing adversary air defence measures.
The missile can travel at speeds more than four times that of sound and can reach a maximum altitude of 20 km, making it extremely flexible for air combat.