About India's Indigenously built Beyond Visual Range Air-To-Air 'Astra' Missile

About India's Indigenously built Beyond Visual Range Air-To-Air 'Astra' Missile: Details, Features, Capacity, Significance, Highlights

Astra is air to air beyond visual range air-to-air missile indigenously developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Astra Missile is one of the smallest weapon system developed by DRDO, having a length of 3.8-metre and weighing 154kg. It is a single stage solid fuelled missile and has a payload capacity of 15 kg conventional explosives.

Astra Missile can be launched from different altitudes and is capable of engaging targets at varying range and altitudes at both short-range targets (up to 20 km) in tail-chase mode and long-range targets (up to 80 km) in head-on mode.

Astra Missile is radar homing supersonic missile having the maximum speed of Mach 4 (four times speed of sound). It possesses high Single Shot Kill Probability (SSKP) making it highly reliable.

Astra Missile is the all-weather missile with active radar terminal guidance, excellent electronic counter-counter measure (ECCM) features, smokeless propulsion and process improved effectiveness in a multi-target scenario.

Astra Missile It has advance onboard electronic counter-measures that jam radar signals from enemy radar, making tracking of the missile difficult. It is fitted with terminal active radar-seeker and an updated mid-course internal guidance system that helps missile to locate and track targets.

Astra Missile can be integrated with all fighter aircraft of IAF including Sukhoi-30 MKI, Mirage-2000, MiG-29, Jaguar and the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).