India’s ability to make its own missiles has been boosted by the Indian Air Force’s approval for the production of 200 Astra Mark 1 air-to-air missiles by the public sector company Bharat Dynamics Limited.
The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and BDL worked together to make the Astra Mark1 missiles.
When Deputy Chief Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, of the Indian Air Force, recently went to Hyderabad, he gave the BDL permission to start making the planes.
“The IAF Deputy Chief had visited the DRDO’s Defence Research and Development Laboratory which is the development agency for the Astra missiles,” they told us.
“The approval for the over ₹ 2,900 crore project was granted in 2022-23 by the Defence Acquisition Council and the production clearance has been given for that order now after completion of all tests and developments,” defense sources said.
The project’s main lab is the Defense Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL).
After they are made, the Astra missiles will be put on both the Russian-made Su-30 and the Indian-made LCA Tejas fighter planes.
A lot of Indian missile projects are getting help from the Indian Air Force. Three or four of these projects are almost finished, and some of them include air-to-ground missiles.
DRDO and IAF are slowly moving forward with the Astra program. They are now planning to test the Mark 2 version of the weapon system at a range of about 130 km.
Plans are also being made to test and build an Astra with a strike range of 300 km.
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