India Successfully Tests Homegrown Glide Bomb Kit

(MENAFN) India has successfully carried out the first-ever flight trial of a domestically engineered glide weapon conversion system, marking a significant milestone in the country's push for defense self-reliance.

The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force jointly executed the inaugural test off the Odisha coastline on Thursday, according to an official statement.

The system at the center of the trial — the Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation (TARA) extension kit — is engineered to transform conventional unguided munitions into high-precision, guided weapons capable of striking ground-based targets with improved lethality and accuracy.

Developed primarily by Research Center Imarat in Hyderabad, in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories, the low-cost kit is designed to dramatically boost strike capability without the burden of expensive purpose-built guided munitions. The DRDO confirmed that mass production of the kits for the Indian Armed Forces is already underway.

The technology works by attaching the conversion kit to a standard unguided bomb, redirecting it with precision toward its intended target. A key tactical advantage of such systems is standoff capability — enabling aircraft to release weapons from a safe distance, substantially reducing their exposure to enemy air defenses.

India now joins an elite group of nations fielding comparable technology, including Russia, the United States, China, Pakistan, Israel, and France.

Israel remains one of the most active operators of such systems. The Israeli Air Force has extensively deployed SPICE — Smart, Precise-Impact, and Cost-Effective — kits, which similarly convert air-dropped unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions, AP reported. India itself had moved toward acquiring the Israeli-developed SPICE kits in December, when the country's Defense Acquisition Council — chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh — greenlit a sweeping defense procurement package worth $8.7 billion, which included a deal for those kits, according to Indian media reports.

On the Russian front, media previously reported that Russian forces may have field-tested an upgraded glide bomb with a strike range of up to 150 kilometers as early as May of last year. Moscow has also been working on an advanced glide bomb conversion system designated the UMPB D-30SN.

Thursday's successful trial signals India's accelerating momentum in developing indigenous precision-strike capabilities — and reducing dependence on foreign-supplied weapons technology.

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