Posted on 07/07/2010 4:24:56 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
: India Wednesday test-fired its short-range Astra air-to-air missile from a defence base in Odisha for the second time in two days, defence sources said.
The beyond visual range missile was tested at 2.05 p.m. from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in the district of Balasore, about 230 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.
Astra is a high-end tactical missile and is envisaged to intercept enemy aircraft at supersonic speeds in head-on mode at a range of 80 km and in tail-chase mode at 20 km.
The missile was earlier tested Tuesday, for the first time at night. "We are analyzing the data of both the tests" S.P. Dash, director of the test range said.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofindia.indiatimes.com ...
Ping.
Way to go James C Bennett for bringing this to my attention!
Short range? The AIM-9 Sidewinder is what I’d call short range, 1 to 18 Km. The AIM-7 Sparrow is what I’d consider medium range, depending on the variant out to 50 Km. This thing at 80 Km would seem to be edging into the long range realm.
The AMRAAM is classed at medium range though newest variants have a range of almost 120 kms (probably more).
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