Air Force eyes smart anti-airfield weapons to strike targets over 100 km
The Indian Air Force is planning to equip its fighter jet fleet with indigenous Smart Anti Airfield Weapons (SAAW) to enhance its long-range strike capability.Designed to hit targets over 100 kilometres away, the SAAW missiles are expected to play a crucial role in future conflicts. The proposal to acquire the missiles will soon be taken up for discussion in the Defence Ministry, defence sources said.advertisementDeveloped by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the SAAW is a 120 kg class precision-guided bomb capable of engaging ground-based enemy assets such as radars, bunkers, taxiways, and runways.
The weapon system has been developed by DRDO's Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad. Its light weight and high accuracy make it a potent standoff strike system, allowing the launching aircraft to remain out of enemy air defence range.The missiles are set to be integrated across the Indian Air Force's fighter fleet, including the Su-30 MKI and Jaguar aircraft. The acquisition gains significance against the backdrop of recent hostilities with Pakistan and China. Officials said the weapon system is similar in operational concept to those used during the Balakot air strikes on Pakistani terror camps.The proposal also comes at a time when the Indian armed forces are increasingly focused on enhancing their long-range strike capabilities. This focus was recently evident in Operation Sindoor, where standoff weapons were successfully deployed against Pakistani military and terror infrastructure.advertisementThe DRDO, which counts SAAW among its major successful projects, has also offered the missiles under the emergency procurement route to enable faster induction and boost frontline capabilities in view of potential future threats.
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India Gazette
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Time of India
an hour ago
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Aiysha Mirza, a Lahore-based spiritual healer who blends tarot cards, birth charts and hypnotherapy in her practice, said that the ministry "cannot understand what I do." "The government needs to broaden its perspective," she said. "What we really need is a new Religion and Metaphysical Authority." Mirza fears that the legislation would fall hardest on those who are visible and aim to be law-abiding -- not those operating in secret or inflicting indisputable mental, physical or financial harm. "Real black magic," she said, "is something entirely different. Those people never show their faces." Pakistan is no stranger to spiritual contradiction. A nuclear-armed state with a highly wired population, it is also a place where political leaders consult holy men before taking office and where television anchors read horoscopes on prime-time news shows. 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In Saudi Arabia, the religious police have pursued people accused of sorcery, in some cases leading to their execution. But rights groups warn that laws targeting spiritual practices -- often vague by design -- can be weaponized. At the Pearl Continental in Lahore, where Anjum works with a magnifying glass and a birth chart opened on a laptop, he describes his work not as mysticism, but as "mere calculations." Zanjani, however, believes such skills cannot be distilled into equations. "Our work," he said, "falls under spirituality, rooted in a long tradition of Islamic mysticism." Between those two -- the astrologer who believes in reason, and the spiritualist who believes in tradition -- lies a country that must now decide how far it wants to go in policing the unseen. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Time of India
an hour ago
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Pak journalist presses US on Kashmir, gets vague reply from US State Dept on Trump mediation offer - The Economic Times Video
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