March 04, 2013: 2013 has been christened 'Astra Year' by DRDO in light of expectations that the Astra beyond visual range air-to-air missile will finally see a flight test firing from an IAF aircraft. The Astra, which has been tested from a ground launcher a few times, has undergone captive carriage trials on a Su-30MKI. The Astra will be deployed from underwing hardpoints on the Su-30MKI, not wingtip pylons as earlier intended.

The Astra is an all-weather all aspect beyond visual range and close combat missile that will be deployed on the IAF's LCA Tejas, Su-30MKI, Mirage-2000 and possibly, the Rafale MMRCA in the future too. The missile sports active radar terminal guidance (dual mode guidance), smokeless propulsion, improve electronic counter-countermeasures and what the DRDO calls improved effectiveness in a multi-target scenario. The Astra also sports autonomous mode guidance (fire and forget), a buddy mode, slaving of seeker to infrared search and track (IRST) and helmed-mounted sight (HMS), and an off boresight launch of upto -/+45 degrees.