Asia-Pacific

India testfires air-to-air Astra missile

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-21 17:38

NEW DELHI - India Saturday successfully testfired its indigenous air-to-air ballistic Astra missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in the eastern state of Orissa, highly placed sources said.

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The testfire on Friday of the same missile failed to meet requisite standards, said the sources.

"For the second day, the beyond-visual-range ballistic Astra missile was testfired at 10:32 a.m.. Yesterday's testfiring didn't meet the requisite standards, but today's test has been successful, " the sources said.

The missile, envisaged to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speeds at a range of 80 km, would be integrated with fighter aircraft Su-30 MKI.

Astra, which uses solid propellant, can carry a conventional warhead of 15 kg. It is 3.8-meter long and has a diameter of 178 mm with an overall launch weight of 160 kg.

Another Astra missile testfiring may be done on Sunday, the sources said.