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DRDO tests Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Rustom-1

Mujraparty

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Bangalore, October 17, DHNS:

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on October 16 successfully completed the test flight of its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle at Taneja Aerospace and Aviation airfield in Hosur.

The UAV, re-named Rustom-1, took off in inclement weather for its maiden test flight, and landed successfully meeting all the parameters after a 12-minute sortie. Lieutenant Col V S Thapa led the exercise carried out by Aeronautical Development Establishment, a DRDO laboratory.

The successful test comes 16 months after the DRDO aborted the maiden flight of Rustom on November 15, 2009. The flight was terminated after 20 seconds of take off. Rustom-1 has several features including GPS-controlled Way Point Navigation. The UAV has an endurance of 12-15 hours and could carry payloads up to 75 kg to a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet.

“The successful test will pave way to a lot more innovation in the UAV category. While we already have intelligence gathering UAVs and remote controlled sensor devices, there is still tremendous scope in this field. We are in the process of preparing a concrete blueprint under the National Program for Micro Air Vehicles (NP-MICAV),” a senior official said.

NP-MICAV, the Rs 100-crore project sponsored by DRDO and the Department of Science and Technology was launched in August this year.

The UAVs remove the risk to human pilots when flying over danger zones. The data link system for Rustom-1 was designed and developed by Defence Electronics Applications Laboratory, Dehradun. Zephyr, a Coimbatore-based private company built the airframe and majority of the on-board systems were assembled by private units. The test is also a prelude to medium altitude long endurance UAV project Rustom-H, to be taken up shortly.

This vehicle could be used by all the three armed services.
DRDO tests Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
 
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thats a welcome development.
hope to see them in our skies (ok possibly on the other side :P ) soon.
when is it proposed to enter service?
 
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thats a welcome development.
hope to see them in our skies (ok possibly on the other side :P ) soon.
when is it proposed to enter service?

Lol, Pakistan previously shot down advanced Israel drones using by India. This is same kind of new UAV.

:)
 
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Lol, Pakistan previously shot down advanced Israel drones using by India. This is same kind of new UAV.

:)

what do you think??? India never sends its UAV in pakistan airspace after that incident? :P
 
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Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence

Bangalore: The Indian Army is yet to induct the desi Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Nishant even after completing the confirmatory trials in Pokhran and Chandan ranges in February this year. Its makers in Bangalore – the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) – a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) installation, had then gone to the town trumpeting the UAV's success.
“The successful flight trials were conducted by the Army before taking delivery of a set of four Nishant together with ground support equipment (GSE). The performance of the pay load sensors in particular has been better than even the imported UAVs with the Army . It is expected that more of such equipment will soon be purchased (read as eight) by the users," the DRDO had said in an official release issued in February.
While the ADE top brass refused to any share information, sighting the sensitives involved at this stage, sources in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in New Delhi confirmed to The New Indian Express, that post-confirmatory trials, another last set of evaluation was also done by the Indian Army in September this year, at two DRDO labs. “As far as we know, the final tests were for electro-magnetic interference (EMI), electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC) and maintenance evaluation trials (MET),” MoD sources said.
The General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQR) for the Nishant project was given to the DRDO by the Indian Army in 1999, soon after the developmental trails were over. While, some quarters blame the Army for changing the GSQRs a number of times, the DRDO too was accused of taking too much time in executing the technology changes.
The four Nishants waiting to be inducted, at a cost of Rs 80 crore, have onboard a forward looking infra red (FLIR) camera which would aid night operations. The upgraded Nishant can spot a tank-size object at a slant range of six-seven km while flying at an altitude of of 1.5 km.
While the DRDO might be pondering over the induction procedures of Army, sources indicate that a decision would be officially announced within two months. The DRDO is pitching hard on Nishant's USPs, including low repair cost and quick software maintenance modes. On its part, the Indian Army is ensuring that they have a UAV loaded with their choice of features – and not one thrust upon them to satisfy the swadeshi pride, but operational efficiencies.
Army had issues with Nishant's video and tracking qualities, which the DRDO now says are all fixed.The Indian Army might place an order for eight more Nishants, including GSE, at a cost of Rs 160 crore, once the much-awaited induction of first four is over.
 
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Off-topic but,

Try shooting down some Predators!

You know, shooting down UAVs is no big deal. :)

Bang on Target :rofl:Sirjee...!!!! Couldn't have said it better:angel:. What about those lovely avatars of yours:devil::woot:
 
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