India successfully tests smart anti-airfield weapon

India has successfully test-fired indigenously designed and developed long-range precision-guided anti-airfield bomb that was dropped from an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

The Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) system was successfully tested at the Chandan firing range in Rajasthan. A total of three tests with different release conditions were conducted from August 16 to 18, a defence spokesperson said.

"The weapon system was integrated with live warhead and destroyed the targets with high precision. The telemetry and tracking systems captured all the mission events. All the mission objectives have been achieved."

The 120-kg class smart weapon is capable of destroying ground targets using precision navigation up to a range of 100 km. It is capable of destroying runways, bunkers, aircraft hangers and other reinforced structures.

The guided bomb is considered to be one of the world-class weapons systems, developed by state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration with the IAF and the Research Centre Imarat (RCI).

The bomb, which is said to have higher precision and much cheaper compared with missiles, can be carried on IAF's various aircraft like Jaguar and MiG.

The weapon has so far undergone eight developmental trials and performance of the system for different ranges under multiple launch conditions has been demonstrated.

Senior officials from DRDO, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and the IAF participated and witnessed the flight tests.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the DRDO, IAF and HAL on the successful tests for further boosting the defence capabilities of the country.

--IANS

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