The Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Indian Air Force successfully conducted the maiden flight-trial of Tactical Advanced Range Augmentation (TARA), India’s first indigenous glide weapon system to convert unguided warheads into precision guided weapons.The trial was carried out off the coast of Odisha on May 7, the DRDO said on Friday.TARA can be attached to 250 kg, 450 kg and 500 kg conventional bombs to turn them into guided munitions, using onboard Inertial Navigation System and GPS navigation as well as electro-optical guidance.The system can increase the range of a bomb to 150-180 km when launched from an altitude of 5 km, with an error probability of three metres.Broadly comparable to the Israeli SPICE that is already in IAF service, it is being integrated with the Jaguar, Mirage 2000, Sukhoi Su-30 MKI and Tejas fighter aircraft.TARA has been designed and developed by DRDO’s 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 by DRDO in collaboration with development-cum-production partners and other Indian industries, which have already started the production activity.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO, IAF and the industry partners for the flight-trial, describing it as a significant development in advancing India’s indigenous defence capabilities.Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development, and Chairman, DRDO, Samir V Kamat, also congratulated the teams associated with the successful flight-trial.