The Indian Air Force, along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully tested an indigenously developed light weight ‘Glide’ bomb in Chandipur in Odisha. With this DRDO announced that this bomb will soon be inducted into the armed forces.
Named SAAW (Smart Anti Airfield Weapon), it was dropped from an IAF aircraft at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur on Thursday, PTI reported. Reportedly, a total of three tests with “different release conditions” and ranges were conducted and were all successful.
The defence ministry in an official statement said,“The guided bomb released from the aircraft and guided through precision navigation system, reached the targets at greater than 70 km range, with high accuracies.”
SAAW is developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), along with other laboratories of the DRDO and the Indian Air Force.
Upon successful completion of the tests, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the DRDO scientists and IAF for the feat.
S Christopher, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and chairman DRDO congratulated the team and announced the future plans of SAAW’s induction into the armed forces.
According to PTI, Director General Missiles and Strategic System of DRDO G Satheesh Reddy termed the test a major milestone in the indigenous capabilities to develop guided bombs. He earlier lauded the scientific community of the DRDO for their efforts towards the design and development of this state-of-the-art smart weapon within the set time frame.