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. 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 will also be equipped with advanced electronic counter-counter measures to negate jamming by hostile aircraft. 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 IAF has already started getting 40 Tejas Mk1 fighters under two contracts valued at Rs 8,802 crore that were signed earlier. This deal will be inked within this fiscal, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria has said. 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. 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. 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.Ĭommercial 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 missile, which has all-weather day-and-night capabilities, has been successfully tested on Sukhoi 30MKI. Indian Air Force (IAF) sources said that the ground trials of the Astra Mk1 have been completed successfully. 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. 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. Astra, in fact, can travel at 4.5 Mach while the AIM 120C has a top speed of 4 Mach. The physical parameters of the Mark 1 (Mk1) version of Astra being produced now is similar to those of the AIM-120C. What’s more, Astra is operationally superior to China’s PL-15 BVRAAM that the PLAAF inducted just four years ago. That’s because Astra compares favourably with the United States-made AMRAAM AIM-120C BVRAAMs that the PAF’s prized F-16s are weaponised with. 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.Īpart 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). 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.
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