Indigenous Astra missile tested successfully

In a significant milestone for indigenous defence capabilities, the existing beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile ‘Astra’ was successfully tested today with an indigenously developed radio frequency (RF) seeker, fired from a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet.

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The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) jointly conducted the flight-test off the coast of Odisha, the Ministry of Defence said.

“During the tests, two launches were carried out against high-speed unmanned aerial targets at different ranges. In both cases, the missiles destroyed the targets with pinpoint accuracy,” the ministry stated.

All subsystems performed as expected during the trials, including the RF seeker, which has been designed and developed by DRDO. The flawless performance of the Astra weapon system was validated using flight data captured by tracking instruments deployed during the test.

A radio frequency seeker is a critical guidance component in modern missiles. It enables autonomous target tracking — allowing the missile to independently locate and follow a target, a feature known as “fire-and-forget” capability.

The Astra BVRAAM (Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile) has a range exceeding 100 km and is equipped with a state-of-the-art guidance and navigation system. More than 50 public and private sector industries, including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), have contributed to the successful realisation of the weapon system alongside various DRDO laboratories.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, the IAF and the industry partners involved in the development of the indigenous RF seeker and successful execution of the test.