Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: India has been able to develop the glide weapon system technology that can convert an unguided (“dumb”) warhead into a guided (“smart”) weapon, marking its entry into an elite group of countries that possess advanced stand-off weapons capabilities.On Thursday, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with the Indian Air Force (IAF), successfully conducted the maiden flight-trial of Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation (TARA) weapon off the coast of Odisha, the defence ministry said on Friday.TARA, the modular range extension kit, is India’s first indigenous glide weapon system to convert unguided warheads into precision-guided weapons. It is the first glide weapon to utilise state-of-the-art low-cost systems, the ministry said.It has been designed to enhance the lethality and accuracy of a low-cost weapon to neutralise ground-based targets. Once released from an aircraft, the TARA system uses aerodynamic lift and guidance mechanisms to travel significantly farther than a conventional free-fall bomb while improving strike accuracy. TARA has been designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, along with other DRDO labs.Defence minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO, IAF and industry partners for the maiden flight-trial, describing it as a “significant development in advancing India’s indigenous defence capabilities”. DRDO chairman Samir V Kamat also congratulated the teams associated with the successful flight-trial.Similar to India’s TARA glide weapon, other countries that have developed the technology to convert unguided bombs into precision-guided, long-range munitions are US (JDAM), Russia (UMPK), Israel (Spice), Turkey (HGK), France (AASM Hammer), South Korea (KGGB), and South Africa (Umbani). These systems typically employ kits equipped with GPS/INS guidance, fins, and folding wings to turn conventional bombs into standoff precision weapons.
