After supersonic BrahMos, DRDO successfully test fires guided bomb from Sukhoi jet in Rajasthan

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday successfully test fired an indigenously-developed 500 kg class guided bomb from a Sukhoi combat jet at Pokhran in Rajasthan. The defence ministry said the guided bomb achieved the desired range and hit the target with high precision. "The DRDO successfully flight tested a 500 kg class Inertial Guided Bomb today from Su-30 MKI Aircraft from the Pokhran test range in Rajasthan," it said.

The ministry said all the mission objectives have been met during the test firing of the bomb, adding it is capable of carrying different warheads. The test firing of the guided bomb came two days after the Indian Air Force successfully test fired the aerial version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi jet at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The 2.5 tonne air-to-surface missile has a range of around 300 km, and it will significantly enhance the IAF's combat capability. The BrahMos cruise missile travels at a speed of Mach 2.8, nearly three times that of sound.

Earlier this month on May 13, DRDO conducted successful flight test of ABHYAS - High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from Interim Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha today. The flight test was tracked by various RADARS & Electro Optic Systems and proved its performance in fully autonomous way point navigation mode.

The configuration of ABHYAS is designed on an in-line small gas turbine engine and uses indigenously developed MEMS based navigation system for its navigation and guidance. The performance of the system was as per simulations carried out and demonstrated the capability of ABHYAS to meet the mission requirement for a cost effective HEAT.