Rudram: India’s first indigenous anti-radiation missile

Rudram: India’s first indigenous anti-radiation missile

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Defence; Security

In news

• Recently, Rudram was successfully flight-tested from a Sukhoi-30 MKI jet off the east coast.
• It is India’s first indigenous anti-radiation missile
• It is developed for the Indian Air Force.

Important value additions

Anti-radiation missile

• Anti-radiation missiles are designed to detect, track and neutralise the rival’s radar, communication assets and other radio frequency sources.
• Such a missile’s navigation mechanism comprises an inertial navigation system coupled with GPS, which is satellite-based.
• For guidance, it has a passive homing head which is a system that can detect, classify and engage targets over a wide band of frequencies.

Rudram

• Rudram is an air-to-surface missile.
• Designed and developed by: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
• Once the Rudram missile locks on the target, it is capable of striking accurately even if the radiation source switches off in between. 
• The missile has an operational range of more than 100 km.
• Along with Sukhoi-30 MKI, it can be adapted for launch from other fighter jets too.