India test-fires indigenous guided lightweight bomb at ITR Chandipur

Balasore: India today successfully test-fired the Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW), an indigenously-developed lightweight 'glide bomb' at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) here in Chandipur.

As per official sources, a total of three tests with varied release conditions and ranges were carried out and all were successful.

The guided bomb, released from an Indian Air Force aircraft and guided through precision navigation system, reached the targets at greater than 70 km range with high accuracies, it said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the DRDO scientists and the IAF for the achieving success in the tests.

With the tests proving successful, the SAAW  is likely to be indcuted into the Armed Forces, DRDO Chairman S. Christopher said while congratulating the team of experts.

Missiles and Strategic System Director General G. Satheesh Reddy meanwhile called it a major milestone in the indigenous capabilities to develop guided bombs.

The guided bomb has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation's Research Centre Imarat (RCI), along with other laboratories of DRDO and the IAF.

The SAAW is a long-range precision-guided anti-airfield weapon, designed to be capable of engaging ground targets with high precision out to a range of 100 km.