Light combat aircraft Tejas successfully fires beyond visual range air-to-air missile

New Delhi: In a major milestone, indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas successfully fired Astra air-to-air beyond visual range (BVR) missile off the coast of Goa on Wednesday.

The missile release was successfully carried out from the aircraft at an altitude of about 20,000 ft and all the objectives of the test were met and it was a perfect textbook launch, the Ministry of Defence said.

The test launch was monitored by the Test Director and scientists of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) along with officials from the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) and Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DG-AQA).
The aircraft was also monitored by a Chase Tejas twin-seater aircraft.

ASTRA, a state-of-the-art BVR air-to-air missile to engage and destroy highly manoeuvring supersonic aerial targets, is designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and other laboratories of DRDO. The indigenous Astra BVR firing from homegrown Tejas fighters is a major step towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has complimented ADA, DRDO, CEMILAC, DG-AQA and the industry for the successful firing of the missile from Tejas-LCA.

“The launch would significantly enhance the combat prowess of Tejas and reduce the dependency on imported weapons,” Singh said.

Secretary, Department of Defence (R-D) and Chairman DRDO has also congratulated the teams involved in the successful launch, the ministry said.