Astra Mk-1 air-to-air missile
Source: By Sushant Kulkarni: The Indian Express
The Ministry of Defence said on 31 May 2022 that it has signed a contract with the Hyderabad-based public-sector Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) for supply of the Astra Mark-1, at a cost of Rs 2,971 crore, for deployment on fighter jets of the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. The Astra Mk-1 is a beyond visual range (BVR), air-to-air missile (AAM).
Astra and its variants
The missile has been designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for deployment on fighter jets like Sukhoi-30 MKI and Tejas of the IAF and the Mig-29K of the Navy.
BVM missiles are capable of engaging beyond the range of 20 nautical miles or 37 kilometers. AAMs are fired from an airborne asset to destroy an airborne target. DRDO officials told that the Astra project was officially launched in the early 2000s with defined parameters and proposed future variants. Around 2017, the development phase of Mk-1 version was complete.
Several successful tests have been conducted since 2017 from Sukhoi-30 MKIs. While the range for Astra Mk-1 is around 110 km, the Mk-2 with a range over 150 km is under development and Mk-3 version with a longer range is being envisaged. One more version of Astra, with a range smaller than Mk-1 is also under development.
The contract
The purchase will be under the Buy (Indian-IDDM) category of defence acquisition — procurement of products from an Indian vendor that have been “indigenously designed, developed and manufactured” with a minimum of 50 per cent indigenous content calculated on the basis of cost of the total contract value.
The Ministry has said that until now, the technology to manufacture missiles of this class indigenously was not available. The transfer of technology from DRDO to BDL for production of Astra Mk-1 missile and all associated systems has been completed and the production at BDL has already started. The Ministry said the project will create opportunities for several MSMEs in aerospace technology for at least 25 years. “The project essentially embodies the spirit of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and will help facilitate realising our country’s journey towards self-reliance in Air to Air Missiles.” the MoD said.
More than 50 private and public industries, including the IAF and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), have contributed in building the Astra systems
Strategic significance
The missile has been designed based on requirements specified by the IAF for BVR as well as close-combat engagement, reducing the dependency on foreign sources. AAMs with BVR capability provides large stand-off ranges to own fighter aircraft which can neutralise adversary airborne assets without exposing themselves to adversary air defence measures. Stand-off range means the missile is launched at a distance sufficient to allow the attacking side to evade defensive fire from the target.
The MoD has said that Astra is technologically and economically superior to many such imported missile systems. The missile can travel at speeds more than four times that of sound and can reach a maximum altitude of 20 km, making it extremely flexible for air combat.
The missile is fully integrated on the Sukhoi 30 MKI I and will be integrated with other fighter aircraft in a phased manner, including the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas. The Indian Navy will integrate the missile on the MiG-29K fighter aircraft which are deployed on the Navy’s aircraft carriers, thus adding to the lethality of India’s Aircraft carriers.
