India progresses domestic Rudram-II missile programme

An Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi Su-30MKI launches a Rudram-II air-launched air-to-surface missile in May/June 2026. (DRDO)

India's domestic Rudram-II air-to-surface missile has been tested for operational accuracy against targets even when launched at the margins of an aircraft's flight envelope, according to the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The missile has been in development and testing since 2022. In the latest rounds of testing, prototype Rudram-II missiles were launched “under extreme release conditions”, the MoD said on 2 June. According to the ministry, the missiles achieved critical trajectory and were accurately guided to a predefined target.

The tests established “the capability of all subsystems”, the MoD said. It added that all objectives were met during the testing and confirmed by flight data captured by range instruments deployed by Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.

The Rudram-II is a 300 km-class missile being developed for the IAF's fleet of Su-30MKI and Dassault Mirage 2000 aircraft. The missile is powered by a solid-propellant rocket motor and uses inertial and satellite navigation for mid-course corrections.

The anti-radiation missile (ARM) variant is equipped with a passive homing head (PHH) and imaging infrared (IIR) seeker, and a 155 kg pre-formed (PF) fragmentation warhead. The ARM variant is designed to engage radar installations with an impact angle between 40° and 50°.

The ground-attack variant features an IIR seeker and a 200 kg penetration-cum-blast (PCB) warhead. This variant is being developed to engage bunkers, airstrips, and air hangars with an impact angle of 80°.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing the missile under the New-Generation Anti-Radiation Missile (NGARM) programme.