May 10, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1424

BHUBANESWAR, May 9: India on Friday test-fired its first indigenously developed air-to-air missile from a site in Orissa.

The missile, named Astra, was tested from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, 200 kilometres from the Orissa capital, Bhubaneswar.

It was the debut test-firing of Astra, which is powered by solid propellant and has a strike range of 25 to 40 kilometres, officials from the ITR said.

The missile test came hours before US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage was due to arrive in New Delhi to discuss India’s recent peace moves with Pakistan.

The Astra prototype was launched from a ground-based fixed launcher with the help of a booster engine.

It is a new system in India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme and more trials will be held in the next few days.

Defence analysts in New Delhi said the Astra was a tactical missile and part of India’s missile development programme.

“Its significance lies in the fact that India has been able to acquire the ability to design and test fire air-to-air missiles of such parameters,” said C.U. Bhaskar, deputy director of a New Delhi-based military think tank, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis.

“It is niche capability which very few developing nations currently possess.”

The Astra missile is being developed for India’s ambitious Light Combat Aircraft.

The multi-role combat aircraft — in development since 1983 — has been a long-cherished dream of India’s air force chiefs who want to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign imports.

The fighter, whose development was partly delayed by US sanctions imposed after India’s nuclear tests, can carry seven weapon stations and has a provision for inflight refuelling.

On Wednesday Defence Minister George Fernandes said two variants of India’s nuclear-capable intermediate range Agni missile will be deployed this year.—AFP