India will start the testing of the Astra Mark 2 beyond visual range air to air missile in 2021. The missile which is capable to take down enemy aircraft from a range of 160 kms will step forward for India as the missile will establish the country’s superiority in air combat over Pakistan and China.
The extended range Astra Mark 2 will give an edge to India over its adversaries and will also add more lethality to its fighter jets in aerial combat.
According to the government officials, the trial for the Astra mark will start in the second half of 2021 and the government is hoping to see the missile fully developed by the year 2022.
About Astra Mark 2 Missile:
The Astra Mark is beyond visual range air-to-air missile- BVRAAM, which flies over 4 times the sound speed at Mach 4.5. The efforts are now being made to integrate the over 100 km strike range missile on the indigenous LCA Tejas, fighter aircraft.
SBP Sinha (Retd), the former Central Air Commander Air Marshal informed that the next generation missile has been expected to be operational by the end of 2022. The former officer has been associated with the Astra Missile Program for a long time now.
Replacing the current BVRAAM’s:
Astra, which is capable of all-weather day and night and currently has a strike range of around 100 km, will eventually be replacing the expensive French, Russian, and Israeli BVRAAM’s that are also currently imported to arm Indian Air Force fighters.
The Indian Navy and IAF have already given orders for 288 Astra Mark- 1 missiles which have already been proven on the Russian Sukhoi-30MKI fighters.
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