Hyderabad: ‘Garudaa’ and ‘Garuthmaa’, two smart glide-bombs manufactured by the Research Centre Imarat-DRDO-Hyderabad have successfully passed the tests, putting India alongside the US and Israel in producing indigenous smart glide-bombs.

The weapons are the brainchild of DRDO laboratories based in Hyderabad and are likely to be inducted into fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force once they complete the remaining cycle of tests.

Sources in the DRDO told this newspaper, “The two glide bombs are christened ‘Garuthmaa’ and ‘Garudaa’. The total indigenisation of the smart weapons has taken place in the labs in Hyderabad. Scientists here designed and manufactured its structures, aerodynamics, systems navigation and more. India has moved closer to self- dependence in precision-guided smart glide bombs as it conducted covert trials of these bombs successfully at the Pokhran firing range in Jaisalmer on August 17, 2018.”

For the induction of any weapons in the three wings of the defence, the weapons have to go through a cycle of extensive testing. Garuthmaa and Garudaa are likely to be inducted into the IAF's supersonic aircraft as soon as they are ready. It's important that the bombs suit the load capacity of the aircraft. In August the load testing of the two bombs turned out to be a success.

Contrary to conventional bombs that take a free flight after being dropped, these two smart bombs have winglets and onboard navigation and guidance systems, enabling them to hit the target with precision after being dropped from varying heights.

The Research Centre Imarat in Hyderabad, the Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) in Bengaluru, the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) in Chandigarh, and the Armaments Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in Pune all worked on these smart weapons.