Khagantak-243 glide bomb has cleared a drop trial conducted by the Indian Air Force, with the service confirming on Wednesday that the indigenously designed and developed Long Range Glide Bomb met all its objectives. The IAF called the outcome a milestone for the force and for the domestic industry behind the weapon.

No further detail accompanied the announcement. The IAF's own account carried two images of the trial, one showing the bomb mid-glide and the other its detonation on impact.

What the Khagantak-243 glide bomb trial covered

The Indian Air Force described the drop as scaling new capability for the service under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat push, without naming the release altitude, the target or the aircraft that carried out the drop. That leaves the trial's exact parameters unconfirmed even as the headline result, a successful release meeting all objectives, is now on record.

Khagantak-243 has been years in the making. JSR Dynamics, a Nagpur-based defence start-up, began showing the weapon as a prototype in 2019, the same year it signed a memorandum of understanding with Bharat Electronics Limited for joint marketing and production of the glide bomb family.


Built by JSR Dynamics and BEL

JSR Dynamics supplies the airframe and control systems. Bharat Electronics Limited, the Navratna defence PSU under the Ministry of Defence, provides the electronics and guidance package. BEL confirmed at Aero India 2025 that it held a prototype and production order from the IAF for the Khagantak-243, with initial flight tests slated to begin later that year.

The arrangement puts a private developer's airframe work alongside a state-run electronics giant's guidance systems, a pairing that has become more common as the IAF widens its supplier base beyond DRDO's own laboratories for stand-off munitions.

A 300 kg-class stand-off weapon

The Khagantak-243 glide bomb sits in the 300 kg weight class, built around a Mk-81 general purpose warhead carrying roughly 125 kg of explosive fill. Released from an altitude of around 12,000 metres, it is rated for a range beyond 140 km, extending the reach of a conventional bomb into stand-off territory that keeps the launch aircraft clear of most short and medium-range air defence envelopes.

Guidance runs on an INS and GPS mid-course package, with an electro-optical and infrared seeker available for the terminal phase on variants that carry it. JSR Dynamics has said the configuration without the seeker holds a circular error probable of under 10 metres, tightening further with it fitted.

Part of a widening Indian stand-off arsenal

Khagantak-243 is not the only indigenous stand-off weapon in trials this year.

DRDO's own RudraM-II air-to-surface missile and the Long Range Land Attack Cruise Missile have both gone through successful flight tests from Su-30MKI-linked programmes in recent months, alongside the Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile's maiden test. Bharat Electronics has been building out a wider stand-off munitions portfolio on its own account too, signing a joint venture agreement earlier this year with Safran Electronics and Defence to produce the HAMMER precision-guided air-to-ground weapon in India, a separate glide weapon family the IAF has flown operationally since 2020.

What the IAF has not confirmed

The trial announcement named no launch platform for Wednesday's drop. Khagantak-243 was booked for its first flight tests on the Su-30MKI, with MiG-29K integration planned to follow, but the IAF's post did not state which aircraft flew the mission or where it took place.