Bhubaneswar: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully conducted the maiden flight-trial of Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation (TARA) weapon off the coast of Odisha on Thursday.

TARA, the modular range extension kit, is India’s first indigenous glide weapon system to convert unguided warheads into precision-guided weapons.

TARA has been designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, along with other DRDO laboratories, to enhance the lethality and accuracy of a low-cost weapon to neutralise ground-based targets. It is the first glide weapon to utilise state-of-the-art low-cost systems.

The development of the kit has been undertaken with Development cum Production Partners (DcPP) & other Indian industries, which have already started the production activity.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO, IAF, DcPP, and the Industry for the maiden flight-trial, describing it as a significant development in advancing India’s indigenous defence capabilities.

Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO, Dr Samir V Kamat, also congratulated the teams associated with the successful flight-trial.