India Test Fires Aircraft-Launched Glide Bombs Capable of Destroying Enemy Targets at 100Km

India has carried out a series of sophisticated weapon and missile tests, including the country's intercontinental ballistic Agni-5 missile in recent weeks. These tests are intended to validate war-preparedness amid the deployment of tens of thousands of new troops along the border with China.

The Indian Air Force and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) test-fired a long-range stand-off precision air-to-surface munition Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW), the Indian defence ministry said on Wednesday. The SAAW, belonging to the glide bomb category, was tested in two different configurations -- through the use of satellite navigation and also electro-optical sensors.

"Electro-optical seeker-based flight test of this class of bomb has been conducted for the first time in the country. The electro-optic sensor has been developed indigenously," the Indian defence ministry said.

The 120kg-category weapon can reportedly destroy enemy assets such as radars, bunkers, aircraft taxiing tracks and runways within a 100km range. Currently, the Indian Armed Forces purchase this form of weapon from Israel and Russia.

"This is a sort of guided bomb, and it will be much cheaper than a missile or rocket, the reason being that it is not having propulsion, it is making use of the aircraft's propulsion," the DRDO stated recently.

The Indian armed forces earlier tested the accuracy of its long-range guided bomb and several missiles in October.

In August 2020, China unveiled a 500kg "smart" glide dispenser bomb which "can release hundreds of submunitions" within seconds to "paralyze an airfield in one shot," while also performing "high-altitude long-range launch, autonomous all-weather attacks, and high-precision hits."