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 Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Tuesday, 2 June.
The tests were carried out under extreme release conditions from a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI aircraft, with a critical trajectory used to establish the capability of all subsystems.
After release, the missiles were guided to a predefined target with pin-point accuracy, according to the ministry.
All test objectives were fully met, as confirmed by flight data captured through various range instruments deployed by the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, the ministry said.
The RudraM-II missile has been indigenously developed by Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad, which served as the nodal DRDO laboratory for the project.
It was developed in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories, including Defence Research and Development Laboratory, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, Armament Research and Development Establishment and ITR.
Several development-cum-production partners and agencies also contributed to the programme, including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness, Missile System Quality Assurance Agency and other industry partners, according to the ministry.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lauded DRDO, IAF, defence public sector undertakings, development-cum-production partners and industry for the successful flight-tests.
He said the tests demonstrated the growing maturity of indigenous defence technologies and their contribution to self-reliance in advanced weapon systems.
The Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development, and Chairman DRDO also congratulated all teams associated with the test for the achievement.
