1. Home
2. Defence

Astra Missile is more than just another weapon

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 12/2/2020 11:50:36 AM

New Delhi, Dec 01 The Astra Mk-1 will be capable of detecting, tracking, and destroying highly agile supersonic fighters armed with anti-missile measures at long ranges. It will also be equipped with advanced electronic counter-counter measures to negate jamming by hostile aircraft. When the flight trials of India’s indigenously produced ‘Astra’ missile on the domestically developed Tejas jet fighter start soon, it will mark a huge leap for the country’s armaments industry. It will propel India into the exclusive league of a handful of nations that have been able to fit domestically produced fighter jets with indigenous 'beyond visual range air to air' (BVRAAM) missiles. Apart from the boost to the country’s pride and self-confidence, Astra will give India’s fighters a definite edge over China’s PLA Air Force (PLAAF) and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). That’s because Astra compares favourably with the United Statesmade AMRAAM AIM-120C BVRAAMs that the PAF’s prized F- 16s are weaponised with. What’s more, Astra is operationally superior to China’s PL-15 BVRAAM that the PLAAF inducted just four years ago. The physical parameters of the Mark 1 (Mk1) version of Astra being produced now is similar to those of the AIM-120C. Astra, in fact, can travel at 4.5 Mach while the AIM 120C has a top speed of 4 Mach. The range of the Astra Mk1 is also more – 80 to 110 km in a head-on chase – whereas the AIM 120C has a range of only 80 km in a head-on chase. Being smoke-free and equipped with a two-way data link, the Astra Mk1’s stealth capabilities are also more than the US-made BVRAAM. Indian Air Force (IAF) sources said that the ground trials of the Astra Mk1 have been completed successfully. The missile, which has allweather day-and-night capabilities, has been successfully tested on Sukhoi Su-30MKI. The Defence Acquisition Council, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has already granted ‘acceptance of necessity’ for an initial order of 248 Astra Mk1 missiles that will be delivered by July 2021. Commercial production of the Astra Mk1 at the defence public sector undertaking (PSU) "Bharat Dynamics" will start once the flight trials on Tejas fighters is completed by next month. The missiles will cost Rs 7.5 crore apiece, a fraction of the cost of Russian, French, and Israeli BVRAAMs that IAF fighters are now armed with. Meanwhile, defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will get an order for producing 83 Tejas Mk1 fighter jets at a cost of Rs 37,000 crore. This deal will be inked within this fiscal, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria has said. The IAF has already started getting 40 Tejas Mk-1 fighters under two contracts valued at Rs 8,802 crore that were signed earlier. The Astra Mk1, say defence industry experts, will be capable of detecting, tracking, and destroying highly agile supersonic fighters armed with anti-missile measures at long ranges. The Astra Mk1 will also be equipped with advanced electronic counter-counter measures to negate jamming by hostile aircraft. The Astra Mk1’s active radar terminal guidance and other features enable a very high single-shot kill probability in both head-on and tail-chase modes. The Astra Mk1, a fifth-generation missile, will replace the Vympel R-77 and Matra Super 530D missiles that the IAF fighters are equipped with now.