Air-to-air 'Astra' missile was successfully test fired from Chandipore about 15 km from Balasore in Orissa. The supersonic missile was test-fired at 2.05 this afternoon from launch complex number-2 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) of Chandipore-on-Sea by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).
The solid propellant user 'Astra' has a length of 3.8 meter and diameter of 1.78 mm. It can carry 15-kg of conventional warhead and can hit the target within a distance of 80 km on head-on mode and 20 km on tale-on mode in the air. This is the fourth successive user trial of 'Astra' by DRDO.
The missile was test-fired successfully last night from the same launching complex. Earlier this year, it was also successfully test-fired twice on January 11. Senior DRDO officials were present during today's test-firing of 'Astra'.
