NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, OCT 22
India on Friday successfully conducted the flight test of the indigenously-designed Abhyas – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) in Odisha, says a Defence release.
Hon'ble Raksha Mantri visited Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), DRDO today. He congratulated the DRDO scientist for successful development of various defence products & platforms pic.twitter.com/bqNwOsyue0
— DRDO (@DRDO_India) October 22, 2021
The trial was carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur off the coast of Bay of Bengal in Odisha.
During the trial, the target was flown from a ground-based controller in a pre-designated flight path at subsonic speed, the DRDO said in a statement.
- The current flight test is carried out as a part of developmental flight trials.
Defence Ministeri Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful flight trial of Abhyas.
The vehicle can be used as an aerial target for evaluation of various missile systems.
During the test flight, low altitude flight capability with radio altimeter in loop were demonstrated. The IR flares were ignited from the ground station during the test flight. The performance of the target aircraft was monitored through telemetry and various tracking sensors including Radars and Electro Optical Tracking System (EOTS), the DRDO said
Abhyas is designed and developed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru. The air vehicle is launched using twin under-slung boosters which provide the initial acceleration to the vehicle. It is powered by a gas turbine engine to sustain a long endurance flight at subsonic speed. The target aircraft is equipped with MEMS based Inertial Navigation System (INS) for navigation along with the Flight Control Computer (FCC) for guidance and control.
The vehicle is programmed for fully autonomous flight. The check-out of air vehicle is done using laptop-based Ground Control Station (GCS).
The current flight test is carried out as a part of developmental flight trials. Expression of interest for production of the vehicle has already been floated to Indian industries. This indigenous target aircraft, once developed, will meet the requirements of High-speed Expandable Aerial Targets (HEAT) for Indian Armed Forces.
Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO also congratulated the teams associated with successful flight test of ‘ABHYAS’ and termed it as a force-multiplier considering its accuracy and effectiveness.
