In a bid to provide a fillip to the armed forces, the Ministry of Defence approved procurement of Astra missiles and long-range land attack cruise missilesystems with a range of 1,000 km for Air Force and Navy.
Context
- In a bid to provide a fillip to the armed forces, the Ministry of Defence approved procurement of Astra missiles and long-range land attack cruise missilesystems with a range of 1,000 km for Air Force and Navy.
What are its features?
- It isIndigenously developed.
- It is Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile.
- Astra isdesigned to be mounted on a fighter aircraft.
- It is also designed to engage anddestroy highly manoeuvring supersonic aircraft.
- It is laced with a 15-kilogram high-explosive pre-fragmented warhead.
- Astra has a range ofover 70 km and can fly towards its target at a speed of over 5,555 km per hour.
- Themissile has all-weather day and night capability.
- The missile has been developed by the Defence Research and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO), along with almost 50 other public and private organisations,which were involved in multiple variants to meet specific requirements.
