NEW DELHI: India has moved closer to developing a powerful indigenous weapon to degrade enemy air defense networks after the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test-fired the RudraM-II air-to-surface missile from an Su-30 MKI fighter, according to the terms of the defense ministry release.
The ministry said on Tuesday that the missile hit its designated target with pinpoint accuracy and met all test objectives. Performance was validated through electro-optical sensors, radars and telemetry stations deployed by the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Odisha.
RudraM-II is a next-generation anti-radiation missile designed to shoot down and neutralize enemy radars, surface-to-air missile batteries and command and control nodes from standoff ranges of up to 300 km. Armed with a 200 kg warhead and capable of a terminal speed of around Mach 5.5, it is purpose-built for Enemy Air Defense Suppression and Destruction (SEAD/ DEAD) missions.
Critically, it does not depend solely on an active radar signal to find its mark. A combination of passive radar homing and infrared seeker imaging allows the missile to continue its attack even if the radar operators turn off their equipment mid-flight, an evasion tactic the new set of seekers is specifically designed to defeat.
