DRDO conducts successful flight test of High-speed Expendable Aerial Target “Abhyas” from Odisha coast

Balasore: ABHYAS, the High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) was successfully

flight-tested on Friday by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the

Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off Odisha coast.

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),DRDO sources said.

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

Expendable Aerial Targets (HEAT) for Indian Armed Forces.

DRDO sources said the performance of the target aircraft was monitored through telemetry

and various tracking sensors including Radars and Electro Optical Tracking System (EOTS).

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful flight trial of Abhyas.

Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO also congratulated the teams associated with the successful flight test of ‘ABHYAS’ and termed it

as a force-multiplier considering its accuracy and effectiveness.

UNI