Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth visited DRDO's Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex in Hyderabad and reviewed the missiles and weapon systems programme being pursued by its various laboratories, officials on Friday said.

He visited the complex on July 16 and 17, the Defence Ministry said.

Seth commended the DRDO scientists for playing a crucial role in building Aatmanirbhar Bharat through realisation of state-of-the-art weapon systems.

He exhorted the scientific community to continue strengthening the armed forces to face any challenges in the current scenario.

Seth reviewed the missiles and weapon systems programme being pursued by the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) of missile cluster labs, it said in a statement.

The Minister visited various work centres of DRDL – Astra Mk I & II, vertically-launched short-range surface-to-air missile and scramjet engine facilities, the Defence Ministry said.

He was briefed about the status of the projects by Distinguished Scientist and Director General (Missiles and Strategic Systems) U Raja Babu and DRDL Director G A Srinivasa Murthy, it said.

Indigenous beyond visual range air-to-air missile 'Astra' is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance and navigation system.

Hyderabad-based DRDL, a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has taken the initiative in developing a long-duration supersonic combustion ramjet or scramjet powered hypersonic technology.

Earlier in April, the DRDO had conducted scramjet combustor ground testing for more than 1,000 seconds.

The Defence Ministry had said that the DRDO had achieved a "significant" milestone in the field of hypersonic weapon technology.

Seth also visited various critical work centres of RCI.

RCI Director Anindya Biswas apprised him of the progress of the indigenous "navigation/ aviation systems, onboard computer division and imaging infra-red seeker facilities", the Ministry said.