India testfires air-to-air Astra missile
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India Saturday conducted a successful ballistic flight test of indigenously developed Beyond- Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missile "Astra" from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in the eastern state of Orissa, sources in the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) said.
"The missile was test-fired and the trial was successful," the sources said.
Astra, which uses solid propellant, can carry a conventional warhead of 15 kg. It is the smallest of the missiles developed by the DRDO in terms of size and weight.
The missile is envisaged to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speeds in the head-on mode at a range of 80 km and in tail-chase mode at 20 km.
It is 3.8-meter long and has a diameter of 178 mm with an overall launch weight of 160 kg.
"Before the sophisticated anti air-craft missile would be integrated with fighter aircraft like Su-30 MKI, MiG-29 and Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, it would undergo some rigorous and flawless tests both from ground and fighter jets," the sources added.
DRDO officials said it was more advanced than the similar class of missiles of the U.S., Russia and France.
The missile's captive flight tests from Su-30MKI were carried out near Pune in November 2009 when seven sorties were conducted.
The testfire on Friday of the same missile failed to meet requisite standards, said the sources.
"For the second day, the beyond-visual-range ballistic Astra missile was testfired at 10:32 a.m. Yesterday's testfiring didn't meet the requisite standards, but today's test has been successful," official sources said earlier.
Another Astra missile testfiring may be done on Sunday, the sources said.
