DRDO Successfully Conducts Flight Test of Abhyas

Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on Thursday successfully conducted the flight test of indigenously developed high-speed expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) Abhyas from Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

According to a Times of India report, a high subsonic speed trajectory at a very low altitude with high endurance was demonstrated during the flight trial. Two boosters provided initial acceleration during launch and a small turbojet engine is used to sustain high subsonic speed with long endurance. The indigenous data link designed by Bengaluru based industry partner was successfully flown and tested during the flight.

The performance of the system during the entire flight duration has been confirmed from the data captured by various range instruments deployed, the report said.

Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru based DRDO laboratory along with other DRDO laboratories has developed this indigenous unmanned aerial target system to meet the requirement of aerial targets of Indian Armed Forces. The aircraft is controlled from a ground-based controller and an indigenously developed MEMS-based Inertial Navigation System along with the Flight Control Computer which helps it to follow the pre-designated path in a fully autonomous mode, the report said.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh said that the successful test is noteworthy testimony of synergy between scientists and industry.

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