The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) have successfully conducted flight tests of the RudraM-II air-to-surface missile from an airborne platform, the officials said on Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the missile was tested under extreme release conditions, with a critical flight trajectory validating the performance and capability of all onboard subsystems. The missiles after release were guided to a predefined target with pin-point accuracy. "All test objectives were fully met as confirmed by the flight data captured by various range instruments deployed by Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur," the ministry said in a statement.
RudraM-II missile
The RudraM-II missile has been indigenously developed by Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad, as the lead DRDO laboratory in collaboration with other DRDO facilities, including the Defence Research and Development Laboratory, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, Armament Research and Development Establishment, and the Integrated Test Range.
Several development-cum-production partners, along with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness, the Missile System Quality Assurance Agency and other industry partners, also contributed to the programme.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO, IAF, defence public sector undertakings, industry partners, and development agencies on the successful tests. He said that the tests have demonstrated the growing maturity of indigenous defence technologies, contributing significantly to Aatmanirbharta in advance weapon systems.
Samir V Kamat, Secretary of the Department of Defence R&D and Chairman of DRDO, also congratulated all the teams associated with the test for the commendable achievement.
Why RudraM-II is a gamechanger for India?
Here are the key reasons why it is considered a gamechanger:
- The indigenously developed RudraM-II air-to-surface missile is capable of achieving speeds of up to Mach 5.5, engaging targets at ranges of around 300 km, and carrying a 200-kg warhead.
- It can be launched from fighter aircraft such as the Sukhoi Su-30MKI operating at altitudes between 3 km and 15 km.
- The missile is expected to serve as a major force multiplier for the Indian Air Force and is slated to gradually replace the ageing Russian-origin Kh-31 anti-radiation missiles currently in service.
- RudraM-II employs an advanced hybrid guidance architecture that integrates an Inertial Navigation System (INS), GPS-based navigation, and a sophisticated passive homing seeker capable of detecting and tracking radio-frequency emissions across a broad spectrum, enabling highly accurate strikes against enemy radar and air-defence assets.
Also Read: Indian Navy gets massive boost as five indigenously built warships set to join fleet in June
