Astra (Sanskrit: "weapon") is an Indian family of all weather beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. The missile is capable of engaging targets at varying ranges from a distance of up to . Astra Mk-1 has been integrated with Indian Air Force's Sukhoi Su-30MKI and will be integrated with Dassault Mirage 2000, HAL Tejas and Mikoyan MiG-29 in the future. Limited series production of Astra Mk-1 missiles began in 2017. Description Astra Mk-1 is long with a diameter of and weighs . It uses mid-course inertial guidance driven by fibre optic gyroscope with terminal guidance through active radar homing. It is capable of receiving course corrections through a secure data link. The missile's active radar seeker, with a homing range of , was designed by Russia's Concern Morinformsystem-Agat but manufactured within India. The seeker can lock-on to a target with a radar cross section of 5 square metres from a distance of 15 km and enables off-boresight launches up to an angle of 45°. Some tests have been conducted in 2017 and 2018 using an indigenous seeker developed by Research Centre Imarat. Astra Mk-1 is equipped with electronic counter-countermeasures to allow operation even during enemy attempts to jam the seeker using electronic countermeasures. It carries a high explosive pre-fragmented warhead activated by a proximity fuse. It uses a smokeless solid fuelled motor that can propel the missile to a speed of Mach 4.5 and allows operation from a maximum altitude of . Its maximum range is in tail chase mode and in head on chase mode. The maximum range is achieved when the missile launched from an altitude of . When it is fired from an altitude of , the range drops to and when it is launched from sea level, the range drops further to . Astra's low aspect ratio wings allow it to engage manoeuvring targets up to a range of in head-on chase mode and in tail chase mode. It can be launched in both autonomous and buddy mode operation and can lock on to its target before or after it is launched. Development Preliminary work on Astra Mk-1 had begun by 1990 with the completion of a pre-feasibility study. It was revealed to the public for the first time at Aero India 1998. It was described as an elongated Matra Super 530D with a smaller diameter in front of the wings.