Context: Recently, Tejas, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) LSP-7 successfully fired the ASTRA off the coast of Goa in August. Officials said that the successful launch of the ASTRA from Tejas fighters would significantly enhance the combat prowess of Tejas and reduce the dependency on imported weapons.
About Astra
- It is an indigenous all-weather Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile to engage and destroy highly manoeuvring supersonic aerial targets.
- It is designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and other laboratories of DRDO.
- Different missiles of this family are capable of engaging targets at varying distances of 500 m up to 340 km.
- It boasts advanced air combat capabilities and its ability to simultaneously engage multiple high-performance targets.
- It is integrated with various aircraft platforms, including the Su-30MKI fighter jet, Mirage 2000, Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), MiG-29 and MiG-21 Bison fighter jets.
About Tejas
- It is a weather and multi-role fighter aircraft.
- The aircraft is designed to be a multi-role aircraft to carry a range of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision-guided weapons.
- It is also designed to undertake Ground Maritime Operations.
- The maximum payload capacity of Tejas is 4000 kg and the Speed upto Mach 1.8.
