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.
