DRDO Glide Bombs
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The Long Range Glide Bomb, also known as Gaurav is a product of the
Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, head ...
to deploy a standardised medium range
precision guided weapon A precision-guided munition (PGM), also called a smart weapon, smart munition, or smart bomb, is a type of weapon system that integrates advanced guidance and control systems, such as GPS, laser guidance, or infrared sensors, with various typ ...
, especially for engagement of targets from outside the range of standard
anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...
defenses, thereby increasing aircraft survivability and minimising friendly losses. The development was carried out by
Research Centre Imarat Research Centre Imarat (RCI) is a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory located in Hyderabad, Telangana. The lab is responsible for research and development of missile systems, Precision-guided munition, guided weapons ...
with production from Adani Defence & Aerospace and
Bharat Forge Bharat Forge Limited is an Indian multinational company involved in forging, automotives, energy, construction and mining, railways, marine, aerospace and defence industries. History The company was founded by Nilkanthrao A. Kalyani on 19 Jun ...
.


Development

The bomb was designed by the
Research Centre Imarat Research Centre Imarat (RCI) is a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory located in Hyderabad, Telangana. The lab is responsible for research and development of missile systems, Precision-guided munition, guided weapons ...
(RCI) in
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
with the help of the
Defence Avionics Research Establishment The Combat Aircraft Systems Development & Integration Centre (CASDIC) is a laboratory of the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, it is one of the two DRDO laboratories involved in ...
(DARE) in
Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
,
Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) is a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which comes under Ministry of Defence. Located in Chandigarh, the laboratory has become one of the major DRDO labs in the ...
(TBRL) in
Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...
and
Armaments Research and Development Establishment Fort Halstead was a research site of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an executive agency of the UK Ministry of Defence. It is situated on the crest of the Kentish North Downs, overlooking the town of Sevenoaks, southeast o ...
(ARDE) in
Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
. The team designed the bomb specially for the
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...
to fulfill a requirement for precision guided weapons. The length of the bomb is 4 meters and the diameter is 0.62 m. The wingspan of Gaurav is 3.4 meters. It has a range of up to 100 km and weighs 1,000 kg. It can carry either pre-fragmented or penetration-blast warheads. To guide the glide munition towards the target, DRDO Glide Bombs use a hybrid navigation approach that combines
satellite guidance A guided bomb (also known as a smart bomb, guided bomb unit, or GBU) is a precision-guided munition designed to achieve a smaller circular error probable (CEP). The creation of precision-guided munitions resulted in the retroactive renaming of ...
and an
inertial navigation system An inertial navigation system (INS; also inertial guidance system, inertial instrument) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors (gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning th ...
with digital control. Gaurav is claimed to be able to destroy a wide range of targets, such as reinforced buildings, airfields,
bunkers A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...
, and blast hardened structures.


Trials

* 19 December 2014: A DRDO-developed 1,000 kg-class glide bomb was successfully tested in the
Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...
. The bomb was dropped from an Indian Air force aircraft and covered a range of 100 km, guided through its on-board navigation system. The flight path is of the glide bomb was monitored by DRDO radars and electro-optic systems situated at
Integrated Test Range The Integrated Test Range (ITR) is a Test and Evaluation (T&E) centre of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Located in Balasore, Odisha, it provide safe and reliable launch facilities for performance evaluation of rockets, ...
(ITR),
Chandipur, Odisha Chandipur is a resort town in Balasore District, Odisha, India. The town is located on the shore of Bay of Bengal and is approximately 16 kilometers from Balasore Railway StationChandipur beachis unique in a way that the water recedes up to 5 k ...
. * 29 October 2021: DRDO and IAF successfully tested the Long Range Glide Bomb from a
Su-30MKI The Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) is a two-seater, twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for th ...
at
Balasore Balasore, also known as Baleswar, is a city in the state of Odisha, about from the state capital Bhubaneswar and from Kolkata, in eastern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Balasore district and the largest city as well as heal ...
,
Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...
. The bomb was released from 10 km altitude and successfully hit a sea based target using
laser guidance Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...
. It is a 1,000 kg bomb which DRDO developed as an alternative to the Spice 2000. The LRGB is part of a family of newly developed precision guided munitions with a range of 50 km to 150 km in range. * 14 August 2024: The Gaurav glide bomb was successfully tested from a Su-30MKI, striking a target at
Abdul Kalam Island Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, is an island off the coast of Odisha, India, approximately east of the state capital Bhubaneswar. The island was originally named after English commandant Lieutenant Hugh Wheeler. On ...
. Using electro-optical tracking equipment and
telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...
provided by the
Integrated Test Range The Integrated Test Range (ITR) is a Test and Evaluation (T&E) centre of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Located in Balasore, Odisha, it provide safe and reliable launch facilities for performance evaluation of rockets, ...
, a team comprising DRDO, Adani Defence & Aerospace, and
Bharat Forge Bharat Forge Limited is an Indian multinational company involved in forging, automotives, energy, construction and mining, railways, marine, aerospace and defence industries. History The company was founded by Nilkanthrao A. Kalyani on 19 Jun ...
tracked the trajectory and performance. * 8 to 10 April 2025: Release trials of LRGB Gaurav were conducted from a Su-30MKI by DRDO at the Integrated Test Range, where it was claimed to have demonstrated a maximum range of 100 km with "pinpoint accuracy". The weapon was integrated to several stations in various warhead configurations for land targets during the trials.


Operators

; *
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...


See also

*
BLU-109 bomb The BLU-109/B is a hardened bunker buster penetration bomb used by the United States Air Force (BLU is an acronym for Bomb Live Unit). As with other "bunker busters", it is intended to penetrate concrete shelters and other hardened structures ...
- United States


References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Defence Research and Development Organisation Guided bombs Aerial bombs of India