The Rudram Anti-Radiation Missile is designed to weaken the enemy’s air defence systems, by taking out radars, communication sites, and other radio frequency emitting targets. By doing do, Rudram Anti-Radiation Missile DRDO debilitates the latter’s plans to launch surface-to-air missiles. According to a statement released by the DRDO Friday, RUDRAM is the first indigenous anti-radiation missile of the country and holds the capability of varying ranges based on launch conditions. it also said that missile will undergo more tests before its eventual induction in the IAF. Rudram Anti-Radiation Missile holds INS-GPS navigation along with Passive Homing Head to launch the final attack. The Passive Homing Head are programmed to detect, classify, and engage targets over the different band of frequencies. The DRDO said, “The missile is a potent weapon for the IAF for Suppression of Enemy Air Defence effectively from large stand-off ranges.”
The Need and Importance of Rudram Anti-Radiation Missile
The work of an anti-radiation missile is to keep a track of the adversary’s air defence systems. It is responsible for detecting, tracking, and neutralising the opponent’s radar, communication assets, and other radio frequency sources. The mechanism of anti-radiation missile includes an inertial navigation system, a computerised mechanism, which uses changes in the object’s own position. It also comprises satellite-based GPS. The passive homing head of the missile can detect, classify and engage targets (radio frequency sources in this case) over a wide band of frequencies as programmed. It homes in on to the target radar and heads towards it, hits it, and destroys the enemy’s ability to launch a surface-to-air missile. The anti-radiation missile act as “eyes and ears” of an air defence system and when employed, they can render an enemy incapable of detecting foreign aircraft. “During a war, the goal of an air force would be to dominate the airspace. To prevent that from happening, surface-to-air missiles are deployed, so that the air force can’t operate in the area in which the missile system is located,” the IAF officer added. The missile is coded with different frequencies and relevant electronic information gathered from surveillance missions. Signals intelligence operations are carried out, during peacetime as well as wartime, with the help of special aircraft and aerial platforms, to detect different sources of transmission and their location. “Being a passive seeker (missile is not radiating on its own to pick up the target at any stage) and launched from long stand-off ranges of 100-150 kilometers, the Rudram anti-radiation missile does not inform the enemy of the upcoming threat,” the officer further added.
