Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt on Sunday flagged off the indigenously developed and manufactured Astra Missiles for supply to the Indian Air Force. The event was held at Bharat Dynamics Limited, Kanchanbagh Unit where BDL CMD Commodore A Madhavarao (Retd) and other senior officials from DRDO, IAF and BDL participated, a release from the BDL said.

Astra is a beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile indigenously developed by DRDO and manufactured by BDL for the IAF, it said.

“Astra Weapon System is best in its class of weapon systems in the world in the category of air-to-air missiles. The missile has a range of 100 plus km,” the release said.

The flag off ceremony marks a significant achievement for BDL, positioning it among a select few companies globally with the capability to manufacture state of the art air-to-air missiles, it said.

The Union Minister congratulated BDL on their efforts to realise the production of the indigenously developed missile in line with the Government of India’s ‘Atmanirbhar’ policy. He also appreciated the contribution being made by BDL in enhancing defence exports of the country.

Madhavarao said that the focus of BDL is always on ‘Make in India’ with maximum indigenous content. He stated that BDL is in receipt of several leads from friendly foreign countries for the Astra Weapon System. He highlighted that BDL has already augmented its manufacturing capability to meet both domestic and international demands of Astra missiles simultaneously.

Ajay Bhatt also visited various manufacturing facilities located at Kanchanbagh Unit of BDL and was apprised about the manufacturing capabilities of the unit by the CMD, the release added.