The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Thursday successfully carried out the maiden flight-trial of the Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation (TARA) weapon system off the coast of Odisha, marking a significant milestone in India’s indigenous defence capabilities.
TARA, a modular range extension kit developed indigenously, is India’s first glide weapon system designed to convert unguided warheads into precision-guided weapons. The system aims to enhance the range, accuracy and lethality of low-cost munitions for engaging ground-based targets.
The weapon has been designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat, a Hyderabad-based DRDO laboratory, in collaboration with other DRDO facilities. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the system incorporates state-of-the-art low-cost technologies and has been developed with the support of Development-cum-Production Partners (DcPPs) and Indian defence industries, which have already initiated production activities.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO, IAF, industry partners and production agencies on the successful maiden trial, describing it as a major step forward in strengthening India’s self-reliance in defence technology.
Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and DRDO Chairman Samir V Kamat also lauded the teams involved in the successful test and termed the achievement an important boost to India’s indigenous weapons development programme.
