The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Astra carriage trials next month

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Astra carriage trials next month

Ravi Sharma

Air Force has made available a Su-30MKI for the crucial tests

Su-30MKI will carry on its wing tips a dummy missile
Astra currently depends on a Russian launcher

BANGALORE: The carriage trials of the indigenous air-to-air missile , Astra, are slated for January. Test pilots from the Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment will take off in a Su-30MKI combat aircraft from Air Force Station Lohegaon (Pune) for the trials.

Disclosing this to The Hindu on Saturday, project director of the Astra programme S. Gollakota said the Indian Air Force had made available a Su-30MKI for the trials.

Flights evaluations and specific telemetry were on and the detailed Su-30 was undergoing instrumentation and modifications in order to allow it to carry the missile on its wing tips at the HAL’s Nasik facility.

During the trials, the Su-30MKI will carry a dummy Astra missile (with no explosives) which has not been electrically or electronically ‘connected’ to the aircraft’s on-board systems.

The trials, which involve around 20 odd sorties, will allow a verification of aspects such as the mechanical, structural and electrical compatibility between the missile and the aircraft, vibrations and strain.

Second phase

The second phase of the trials — expected next July — will involve the integration of the missile’s avionics with that of the aircraft.

Dr. Gollakota expects the actual firing during the end of 2009.

In September, the Astra was successfully test fired from a ground launch at Chandipur-on-sea, off the Orissa coast. But India has a long way to go to master and indigenise some of the missile’s crucial technologies.

The Astra now depends on a Russian launcher and more crucially the seeker head is also imported.

India had tried to get a seeker from the French, but settled for the Russian one, which is yet to be integrated with the missile’s radar, algorithms, etc.

Part of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme that was developed by a team of defence laboratories led by the Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Laboratory, the Astra, at its design altitude of 15 km, has the ability to evade radar and hit targets up to a range of 80 km.

According to Dr. Gollakota, the Astra can be compared to the U.S.’s AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, France’s MICA (Missile d’interception et de combat aérien, “Interception and Aerial Combat Missile”) and Russia’s R77 (RVV-AE) missile.

On four platforms

As per the IAF’s air staff requirements, the Astra is to be used on four platforms, the Su-30MKI, Mirage 2000, Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and the MiG-29.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka