Illustrative ISC Defence Intelligence graphic. The calibre, fill and configuration of the trialled store were not disclosed by DRDO. Image to be upgraded to a licensed photograph at the finish stage.

DRDO Trials High-Calibre Air-Delivered Bomb at TBRL Ramgarh Range

Technical Summary

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) reported a successful trial of a high-calibre air-delivered bomb at the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) Ramgarh test range, in the Panchkula district of Haryana, on Sunday 31 May 2026. India's public broadcaster, News on Air, said the trial was conducted in the presence of senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officers and that all stated operational and safety parameters were met.

DRDO did not release the calibre, gross weight, explosive fill, fuzing arrangement or guidance configuration of the store. From a Weapons, Ordnance, Munitions and Explosives (WOME) standpoint the trial is therefore defined by what was withheld rather than what was disclosed. The single quantified parameter released publicly is the declared hazard footprint: fragments projected to roughly 1.5 km in altitude and a 2 km radius sensitive zone around the point of functioning.

The declared hazard footprint, fragments to about 1.5 km in altitude and a 2 km radius sensitive zone, is the only quantified parameter DRDO released. Calibre, fill and fuzing all remain undisclosed. ISC Defence Intelligence technical assessment

Analysis of Effects

A 2 km sensitive radius and a 1.5 km fragment altitude are consistent with the functioning of a substantial high-explosive charge in a fragmenting case rather than an inert or reduced-charge shape. The figures describe a fragmentation throw envelope, that is, the maximum distance at which energetic fragments retain hazardous terminal velocity, not a blast overpressure radius. Range safety templates for filled stores of this order are commonly governed by fragment throw, which extends well beyond the lethal blast radius.

Without a disclosed Net Explosive Quantity (NEQ), any blast figure would be speculative. For scale reference only, an air-delivered general-purpose bomb in the 450 to 900 kg class carries an explosive fill broadly in the 90 to 250 kg range depending on charge-to-weight ratio. That reference is not the tested store and is offered solely to frame magnitude. The presence of IAF officers and the framing around precision strike point to an air-carriage role, but whether the trial assessed arena fragmentation, terminal penetration, fuze function or warhead lethality is not stated.

Personnel and Safety Considerations

The published advisory instructed residents of Bhanu, Billa, Asrewali, Naggal, Moginand, Kishangarh and TMV Colony to remain indoors during the 10:30 to 12:30 India Standard Time window. This is a standard exclusion-and-shelter control for an open-arena trial and is consistent with keeping uninvolved persons outside the fragment hazard area, the As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) principle applied to range work. For a filled, fragmenting air-delivered store the storage and transport hazard classification would ordinarily fall under Hazard Division (HD) 1.1, mass-detonating, although the as-configured classification and Compatibility Group were not disclosed and must be treated as unknown.

Data Gaps

Critical technical parameters remain unconfirmed and should not be inferred: store calibre and gross weight; explosive fill type and Net Explosive Quantity; fuze type and arming configuration; guided or unguided status; the specific test objective, whether arena fragmentation, penetration, lethality or fuze function; and the storage and transport Hazard Division and Compatibility Group of the as-tested configuration. ISC has quantified only the publicly stated 1.5 km fragment altitude and 2 km hazard radius. Every other numerical figure in this assessment is an illustrative scale reference, expressly flagged, and not attributed to the tested store.

Corrections & updates welcome. If you hold open-source data that refines or corrects any parameter in this article, please contact [email protected] citing the specific claim and your source. Verified corrections will be incorporated and credited in the revision history. AI-assisted technical assessment based on open-source material. Not a formal intelligence product.