Beyond Visual Range Air-to-air Missiles for India’s LCA, Su-30MKI
India’s plans of integrating the MBDA’s meteor missile on its LCA Tejas and Su-30MKI aircraft may not happen due to a reported reluctance on the part of MBDA to mount the missile on any Russian and Israeli platforms.
An Indian media source reported last week quoting an unnamed IAF official as saying, “The European manufacturers have told Air Force that they would not integrate the Meteor missile on either Russian platforms or with the Israeli equipment which can create issues but efforts are on to find a way out on the issue.”
India, however has bought Meteor missiles to be integrated on Dassault Rafale fighters. MBDA’s reluctance might be due to the missile having been selected for the integration of the F-35 aircraft bought by the UK in 2017. This will potentially open up a huge market for the Meteor to sell into the F-35 ecosystem.
Other alternatives of Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missiles for Indian fighter aircraft LCA Tejas and Su-30MKI and their comparison with Meteor missiles:
|
|
Meteor Missile |
Israeli Derby |
Indo-Russian Novator KS-172 |
Astra Mk 1 BVRAAM |
Russian R77 |
|
Type |
BVR air-to-air missile |
Medium range BVR air-to-air missile |
Long range air-to-air missile |
Air-to-air missile |
Medium-range, air-to-air missile |
|
Manufacturer |
MBDA |
Rafael |
Novator and DRDO |
Bharat Dynamics Ltd/DRDO |
Vympel |
|
Unit Cost |
2.6M |
1.25M |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
Weight |
190 kg (419 lb) |
118 kg |
748 kg (1,650 lb) |
154 kg (340 lb) |
175 kg |
|
Length |
3.7 m (12 ft 2 in) |
362 cm
|
6.01 m (19.7 ft) + 1.4 m (4.6 ft) |
3.57 m (11.7 ft) |
3.6 m |
|
Diameter |
0.178 m (7.0 in) |
64 cm |
40 cm (16 in) |
178 mm (7.0 in) |
200 mm |
|
Warhead |
High explosive blast-fragmentation |
High-Explosive fragmentation |
High Explosive fragmentation |
High-explosive pre-fragmented warhead |
22.5 kg High Explosive fragmenting |
|
Warhead Weight |
NA |
23 kg |
50 kg (110 lb) |
15 kg (33 lb) |
NA |
|
Detonation Mechanism |
Proximity/impact fuse |
Active laser and electromagnetic proximity fuse |
NA |
Radar proximity fuse |
laser proximity fuze |
|
Engine |
Throttleable ducted rocket |
Rocket motor |
Solid-propellant tandem rocket booster |
Solid propellant |
Solid fuel rocket motor (R-77), air-breathing ramjet (R-77-PD) |
|
Operational Range |
100+ km(63 mi, 60 km No Escape Zone) |
50 km I-Derby variant has 100 km |
At least 200 km, possibly 300–400 km (160–210 nmi) |
80–110 km (50–68 mi) in head-on chase and 20 km (12 mi) in tail chase |
80 km (R-77), 110 km (R-77-1) >193km (K-77M) |
|
Speed |
over Mach 4 |
Mach 4 |
4,000 km/h (2,500 mph; 1.1 km/s; Mach 3.3) |
Mach 4.5 |
Mach 4 |
|
Guidance System |
Inertial guidance, mid-course update via datalink, terminal active radar homing |
Active radar homing |
inertial navigation with midcourse guidance and terminal active radar homing |
Inertial, mid-course update and terminal active radar homing |
Inertial with mid-course update and terminal active radar homing/infrared homing (R-77T) |
|
Wingspan |
NA |
64 cm |
61 cm (24 in) |
NA |
700 mm |
|
Flight Ceiling |
NA |
NA |
3 m (9.8 ft)–30,000 m (98,000 ft) |
20 km (66,000 ft) |
5–25 km (16,000–82,000 ft) |
|
Launch Platform |
Eurofighter Typhoon |
F-16, F-15, Su-30, JAS39-Gripen, Mirage-2000, LCA, F/A-50 |
Su-27, Su-30, Su-35, Su-30MKI, Su-57 |
Su-30MKI |
MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-27, MiG-29, MiG-31, MiG-35, Su-27, Su-30, Su-33, Su-34, Su-35, LCA Tejas, Yak-141, Chengdu J-10 |
The Derby (Alto) is a BVRAAM developed by Israeli company, Rafael. In February 2005, India ordered 20 missiles and six practice missiles for integration onto its Navy’s Sea Harrier aircraft for $25 million.
The Indian Air Force tested Derby for the first time in May, 2017 and again on April 27, this year achieving the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) for its Tejas fighter aircraft.
India completed the final development flight trials of Astra from Su-30MKI fighter aircraft in September 2017. The missile is capable of detecting and destroying highly manoeuvrable targets, moving at a supersonic speed. The IAF has mostly dependent on Russian and Israeli air-to-air systems to meet its battlefield requirements.
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