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New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has successfully conducted a drop trial of the indigenously developed Khagantak-243 Long Range Glide Bomb (LRGB), strengthening India's efforts to develop cost-effective stand-off weapons for modern aerial warfare.
Developed by Nagpur-based defence startup JSR Dynamics in collaboration with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the Khagantak-243 is designed to allow fighter aircraft to engage targets from significant distances without entering heavily defended airspace.
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The weapon carries a 125-kg Mk-81 blast-fragmentation warhead and uses mid-body glide wings and aft control surfaces. Its developers claim a glide ratio of more than 12.
When released from an altitude of around 12 km at Mach 0.8, the weapon is claimed to achieve a range of approximately 144–180 km.
The Khagantak-243 was initially tested from an IAF Su-30MKI at Pokhran and is planned for integration with platforms including the MiG-29K and Mirage-2000. The IAF has also placed a limited-series contract with BEL, according to programme information.
The development comes as drones, loitering munitions, electronic warfare and increasingly dense air-defence networks are reshaping modern battlefields.
Stand-off glide weapons give combat aircraft the ability to release their weapons from outside the immediate engagement envelope of many enemy air-defence systems, while avoiding the complexity of a powered cruise missile.
Unlike cruise missiles, glide bombs do not require an engine. They use the aircraft's release altitude and speed, combined with aerodynamic lift, to reach their targets. This can potentially make them simpler and more economical to manufacture at scale
The requirement for such weapons has also been highlighted by India's use of imported SPICE and HAMMER precision weapons during Operation Sindoor.
Khagantak-243 forms part of a wider family that includes the Khagantak-306 and Khagantak-225 variants. Its development also adds to India's growing indigenous glide-bomb portfolio, following DRDO's testing of the much heavier 1,000-kg Gaurav Long Range Glide Bomb in 2025.
The programme is significant not only because of the weapon itself, but because it brings together a private defence startup, a Defence PSU and the IAF in developing an indigenous strike capability.
If successfully operationalised at scale, systems such as Khagantak could help reduce India's dependence on imported precision-guided weapons while giving the IAF a larger pool of relatively economical stand-off strike options.
However, projections regarding future production numbers or a sharp reduction in import dependence remain dependent on further orders, production capacity, testing and operational induction.
The larger shift is clear: as drone warfare makes the battlefield more transparent and contested, India is investing in weapons that allow its fighters to strike from farther away—while increasingly developing those capabilities at home.
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