‘Near-hit’ Astra test successful

[sudhir007]

http://www.newindianexpress.com/sta...3/near-hit-astra-test-successful-1548501.html

Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday test fired beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile Astra against an actual target in full operational configuration for the first time over Bay of Bengal paving way for its early induction in the armed forces.
Defence sources said two rounds of the missile from Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft were targeting pilot-less target aircraft (PTA) Banshee. The mission was termed ‘successful’ considering the missed-distance calculation, though the missile failed to achieve a direct hit.

‘’The missiles were fired both at high and medium altitude. They passed very close to the target and it can be termed near-hit. The mission was conducted in a war-like scenario and the missile was fired on actual targets. Data collected during the tests are being examined,’’ the sources said.
DRDO officials, however, claimed that the mission was excellent. The tests were conducted to demonstrate the aerodynamic characteristics of the missile. It has demonstrated the repeatability, robustness and endurance capability of Astra weapon system, said a senior official.

Indigenously designed and developed by DRDO, Astra possesses high Single Shot Kill Probability (SSKP), making it highly reliable. It is an all-aspect, all-weather missile with active radar terminal guidance, excellent electronic counter-counter measure (ECCM) features, smokeless propulsion and process improved effectiveness in multi-target scenario.
Sources informed that this trial will be followed by two more tests in coming days. Apart from Sukhoi-30 MKI, scientists have started integrating the weapon with homegrown ‘Tejas’ Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

Astra is designed for an 80-km range in head-on mode and 20 km-range in tail-chase mode. The 3.8 metre long missile, which has launch weight of about 154 kg, uses solid-fuel propellant and a 15 kg high-explosive warhead activated by a proximity fuse.
Fitted with a terminal active radar-seeker and an updated mid-course internal guidance system, the missile can locate and track targets. It is difficult to track this missile as its on-board electronic counter-measures jam signals from the enemy radars.
As an anti-aircraft missile, it can be fired after receiving a signal from the far away target through its on-board manoeuvres based on radio frequency.

 

[swnjo]

"Defence sources said two rounds of the missile from Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft were targeting pilot-less target aircraft (PTA) Banshee. The mission was termed ‘successful’ considering the missed-distance calculation, though the missile failed to achieve a direct hit"

So it failed again?

 

[Logicaldude]

Why make such troll inviting headlines? If the missile got within distance it is supposed to given its warhead size and technology, then its a 100% successful test. Why call it "near hit" when its not a direct kill weapon, it carries an intelligent high explosive warhead.

@bhutjolokia please!!!

 

[abc123xyx]

with 15kg of explosives , you just need to explode it as its getting near to the target using a proximity sensor...they are testing each system.....

 

[Sloth 22]

The bigger question is, when do we get Indian Seeker on it.

 

[sudhir007]

 

[AMCA]

The bigger question is, when do we get Indian Seeker on it.

We already have got one for NAG. Its a matter of time we have it for Astra too.

 

[faithfulguy]

"Defence sources said two rounds of the missile from Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft were targeting pilot-less target aircraft (PTA) Banshee. The mission was termed ‘successful’ considering the missed-distance calculation, though the missile failed to achieve a direct hit"

So it failed again?

Near miss is not a failure according to Indian military.

 

[grey boy 2]

Congratulation to Indians for this successful missiles test

 

[deckingraj]

Near miss is not a failure according to Indian military.

Learn to read before making your intelligent comment...

 

[Crixus]

Can it be turned into SAM in future , I think it can also give pretty good security for some high value targets and as its in house products it will cost far less then spyder and other costly SAMs

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

An BVR missile should have a large proximity packed with good warhead to render the enemy immobile. Most of the new gen has a proximity fuse of 10-15m I guess within which the aircraft can be destroyed beyond measure. The question is, if the near miss Astra exploded bringing the target vehicle down?!!

 

[Fenrir]

"Defence sources said two rounds of the missile from Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft were targeting pilot-less target aircraft (PTA) Banshee. The mission was termed ‘successful’ considering the missed-distance calculation, though the missile failed to achieve a direct hit"

So it failed again?

Depends on what warhead the missile was using. If it was a blast fragmentation or continuous-rod, then getting close enough will still equal a kill during a simulation because of the profile of these warheads.

With Blast, angular or directional fragmentation warheads and continuous rod types you don't need a direct hit. Continuous rod warheads produce a, well, continuous rod that acts like a saw cutting any aircraft parts that pass through the ring. Fragmentation warheads act like giant shotguns and will pepper an aircraft with small, angular fragments, causing catastrophic damage.

In development are hit-to-kill air-to-air missiles like Cuda, but they're for anti-missile defense, not anti-aircraft duties.

If Astra detonated and failed to bring down the target using a blast of continuous rod warhead, then there's cause for concern, but we don't know if the missile was supposed to detonate or not, or if it was just a simulated engagement.

These types of simulations and ascribing of a successful test even though the target wasn't hit is also seen in ABM testing, like those of THAAD and SM-3. You can read about that in this PDF if you're interested:

http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2015/pdf/bmds/2015aegisbmd.pdf

Typically with A2A or S2A missiles, they're blast or angular fragmentation, so getting close enough to have the shot profile hit the target during a live fire will suffice. During simulations you just need to be in the simulated area of lethality to deem the test successful.

So no, it probably didn't fail, but that's dependent on the test criteria.

Can it be turned into SAM in future.

So something like this?

Not a bad idea, though a larger motor will be best paired with Astra if it's to be used as a SAM, as the slant range of a surface launched missile is lower then its A2A counterpart... no one seriously thinks the SL-AMRAAM has a range of +180km do they? The AIM-120D and ESSM-ER have a surface launched range of roughly 60-70km. The AIM-120B (shown above) is about 20-30km and the AIM-120C being +40km.

 

[swnjo]

Depends on what warhead the missile was using. If it was a blast fragmentation or continuous-rod, then getting close enough will still equal a kill during a simulation because of the profile of these warheads.

With Blast, angular or directional fragmentation warheads and continuous rod types you don't need a direct hit. Continuous rod warheads produce a, well, continuous rod that acts like a saw cutting any aircraft parts that pass through the ring. Fragmentation warheads act like giant shotguns and will pepper an aircraft with small, angular fragments, causing catastrophic damage.

In development are hit-to-kill air-to-air missiles like Cuda, but they're for anti-missile defense, not anti-aircraft duties.

If Astra detonated and failed to bring down the target using a blast of continuous rod warhead, then there's cause for concern, but we don't know if the missile was supposed to detonate or not, or if it was just a simulated engagement.

These types of simulations and ascribing of a successful test even though the target wasn't hit is also seen in ABM testing, like those of THAAD and SM-3. You can read about that in this PDF if you're interested:

http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2015/pdf/bmds/2015aegisbmd.pdf

Typically with A2A or S2A missiles, they're blast or angular fragmentation, so getting close enough to have the shot profile hit the target during a live fire will suffice. During simulations you just need to be in the simulated area of lethality to deem the test successful.

So no, it probably didn't fail, but that's dependent on the test criteria.



So something like this?

Not a bad idea, though a larger motor will be best paired with Astra if it's to be used as a SAM, as the slant range of a surface launched missile is lower then its A2A counterpart... no one seriously thinks the SL-AMRAAM has a range of +180km do they? The AIM-120D and ESSM-ER have a surface launched range of roughly 60-70km. The AIM-120B (shown above) is about 20-30km and the AIM-120C being +40km.

Thanks a lot for your time to explain all these in such concise manner.
If only news agency cared to explain that the missile wasn`t carrying any warhead or that it was just a simulation or that warhead failed to explode, there would n`t have been any confusion. Now there is so much uncertainty.

 

[Crixus]

Actually , heard while watching the documentary of Spyder SAM system that a air to air missile has more brain then whole SAM battery , that why they use python and Derby .

If we can use this missile as SAM we can easily reduce the cost and can provide the qualitatively better SAM coverage to hight priority targets which dont have spyder coverage .

Thanks for explaining it.

Depends on what warhead the missile was using. If it was a blast fragmentation or continuous-rod, then getting close enough will still equal a kill during a simulation because of the profile of these warheads.

With Blast, angular or directional fragmentation warheads and continuous rod types you don't need a direct hit. Continuous rod warheads produce a, well, continuous rod that acts like a saw cutting any aircraft parts that pass through the ring. Fragmentation warheads act like giant shotguns and will pepper an aircraft with small, angular fragments, causing catastrophic damage.

In development are hit-to-kill air-to-air missiles like Cuda, but they're for anti-missile defense, not anti-aircraft duties.

If Astra detonated and failed to bring down the target using a blast of continuous rod warhead, then there's cause for concern, but we don't know if the missile was supposed to detonate or not, or if it was just a simulated engagement.

These types of simulations and ascribing of a successful test even though the target wasn't hit is also seen in ABM testing, like those of THAAD and SM-3. You can read about that in this PDF if you're interested:

http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2015/pdf/bmds/2015aegisbmd.pdf

Typically with A2A or S2A missiles, they're blast or angular fragmentation, so getting close enough to have the shot profile hit the target during a live fire will suffice. During simulations you just need to be in the simulated area of lethality to deem the test successful.

So no, it probably didn't fail, but that's dependent on the test criteria.



So something like this?

Not a bad idea, though a larger motor will be best paired with Astra if it's to be used as a SAM, as the slant range of a surface launched missile is lower then its A2A counterpart... no one seriously thinks the SL-AMRAAM has a range of +180km do they? The AIM-120D and ESSM-ER have a surface launched range of roughly 60-70km. The AIM-120B (shown above) is about 20-30km and the AIM-120C being +40km.