{"id":30609,"date":"2025-03-06T11:11:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T05:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=30609"},"modified":"2025-04-11T08:49:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T03:19:53","slug":"astra-mk-iii-missile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/astra-mk-iii-missile\/","title":{"rendered":"Astra MK-III Missile"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Astra MK-III Missile Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>India\u2019s latest and most advanced air-to-air missile, the Astra MK-III, has now been officially renamed Gandiva, after the legendary bow of Arjuna from the Mahabharata.<\/p>\n<h2>About Astra MK-III Missile<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile<\/strong> designed to be mounted on fighter aircraft.<\/li>\n<li>Still u<strong>nder development by <\/strong>the Defence Research and Development Organisation (<strong>DRDO<\/strong>), this missile is expected to redefine the landscape of aerial warfare, especially in BVR combat.<\/li>\n<li>The missile <strong>will be deployed on the IAF&#8217;s Sukhoi Su-30MKI jetsand <\/strong>the Light Combat Aircraft <strong>Tejas<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>With the eventual induction of Gandiva, India will possess <strong>one of the longest-range BVR air-to-air missiles in the world.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>This missile is capable of targeting a variety of aerial threats, including enemy fighter jets, bombers, military transport aircraft, refueling planes, and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Astra MK-III Missile Features<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It has a r<strong>ange of 340 kilometers<\/strong> when the target is at an altitude of 20 kilometers, and 190 kilometers when the target is at a lower altitude of 8 kilometers.<\/li>\n<li>It is powered by a <strong>dual-fuel ducted ramjet engine<\/strong>, enabling it to be launched from an IAF jet at sea level or as high as 20 kilometers in altitude.<\/li>\n<li>The missile\u2019s launch speed ranges from 0.8 to 2.2 Mach, with the capability to hit targets at a speed of 2.0 to 3.6 Mach.<\/li>\n<li>One of its most advanced features is its <strong>ability to engage highly maneuverable fighter aircraft,<\/strong> with an angle of attack of up to 20 degrees.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Additionally, the Gandiva has a \u00b110 km snap-up\/snap-down capability, allowing it to <strong>engage targets at varying altitudes\u2014<\/strong>either higher or lower than the firing aircraft.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Astra MK-III Missile FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1<\/strong>. Who developed the Astra missile?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans<\/strong>. The Astra missile was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2<\/strong>. What is the range of Astra Mark 3 missile?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans<\/strong>. Around 340 kilometres.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3<\/strong>. What is the speed of the Astra Mark 3 missile?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans<\/strong>. The missile\u2019s launch speed ranges from 0.8 to 2.2 Mach, with the capability to hit targets at a speed of 2.0 to 3.6 Mach.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/defence\/astra-mk-iii-indias-most-advanced-air-to-air-missile-set-to-alter-balance-of-power-with-its-unmatched-range\/articleshow\/118726844.cms?from=mdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ET<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Astra MK-III Missile is a beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile designed to be mounted on fighter aircraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}