India has achieved another milestone in its indigenous defense manufacturing sector. India successfully test-fired the first new-generation anti-radiation missile. This long-range air missile is known as RUDRAM-1. It was developed and test-fired by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).  The missile is developed for Indian Air Force (IAF). During the test fire, the radiation target was located on Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha and it was launched from SU-30 MKI fighter aircraft aiming at the target.

RUDRAM is very special in many ways. Let’s have a look at all of them. RUDRAM is the first indigenous anti-radiation missile of our country. All might know what indigenous means, right? Yes, it means our country developed it on its own.

The special feature of RUDRAM is it is an anti-radiation missile. That means RUDRAM picks signals from radiation-emitting platforms and systems and neutralizes or deactivates them. Radiation-emitting platforms mean the types of equipment which produce radio frequency like surveillance and guidance radars, jammers, communication sites, towers, command and control centres etc. This is the first such air-to-ground missile developed by DRDO for this purpose. Sounds great, right!

It has a system called Passive Homing Head and through it it can detect, classify and engage targets over a wide band of frequencies as programmed in it. These missiles are meant to attack the air defense system of the enemy. So how do they do that? It targets the radars, communication sites, and other radio frequency emitting targets, thereby foiling any plan by the enemy to launch surface-to-air missiles.

Due to this reason, RUDRAM will be a powerful weapon for IAF for dealing with air defense systems of the enemy. This Passive Homing Head equipped with INS-GPS navigation is a powerful weapon during the enemy attack. It also hits the radiation target with pinpoint accuracy.

Another important feature of RUDRAM -1 is that depending on the height from which it is fired, it can strike from a range of 100 to 200 kilometers. Also as per reports, it has a launch speed from Mach 0.6 to 2 which is twice the speed of sound. It will help in conducting operations to destroy air defense set-ups deep inside enemy territory. The missile is also programmed with various types of frequencies which enable them to detect different sources of transmission and their location.  As per DRDO before its eventual induction in the IAF, the missile will undergo more tests.