NEW DELHI: India has moved closer to fielding a potent indigenous weapon to degrade enemy air-defence networks after the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully flight-tested the RudraM-II air-to-surface missile from a Su-30 MKI fighter under what the defence ministry termed “extreme release conditions”.
The ministry said on Tuesday the missile struck its designated target with pin-point accuracy and met all trial objectives. The performance was validated through electro-optical sensors, radar and telemetry stations deployed by the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Odisha.
RudraM-II is a next-generation anti-radiation missile geared to hunt and neutralise hostile radars, surface-to-air missile batteries and command-and-control nodes from stand-off ranges of up to 300 km. Armed with a 200-kg warhead and capable of terminal speeds of around Mach 5.5, it is purpose-built for Suppression and Destruction of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD/ DEAD) missions.
Critically, it does not depend solely on an active radar signal to find its mark. A combination of passive radar homing and imaging infrared seekers allows the missile to continue its attack even if radar operators switch off their equipment mid-flight, an evasion tactic the new seeker suite is specifically engineered to defeat.
RudraM-II has been tested before. At least three flight-tests have been conducted across varying performance envelopes, with the first full-configuration trial carried out in May 2024.
The missile advances on the Rudram-I, which has a range of 150 km and will progressively replace the Russian-origin Kh-31 currently used by the IAF for radar-suppression missions. Integration on the Tejas Mk-1A and other platforms beyond the Su-30 MKI is also planned.
The regional context sharpens the significance. Pakistan’s JF-17s carry the Chinese-origin LD-10 and CM-102, with claimed ranges of around 80 km and 100 km respectively. China fields the YJ-91, a derivative of the Russian Kh-31P, with a range of up to 120 km. At a range of up to 300 km, RudraM-II operates well beyond all three.
In parallel, DRDO is also working on the Rudram-III, a two-stage hypersonic weapon intended for deep-strike missions against heavily fortified targets.