India Successfully Develops its First Beyond Visual Range Air-to-air Missile

India has successfully developed the ‘Astra’, its first all-weather Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Air-to-Air Missile (AAM) and leaped into a group of few nations that have a weapon system of this capability and performance. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) initiated concept studies for developing an indigenous AAM in the 1990s. The Government of India sanctioned the Astra project in March 2004 with a budget of `995 crore. The Hyderabad-based Defence Research & Development Laboratory, a Missile System laboratory under the DRDO was designated as the design and development (D&D) agency for the Astra missile.Read More…