DRDO successfully conducts flight test of Abhyas in Odisha  

BHUBANESWAR: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday successfully flight-tested an indigenously-developed unmanned aerial vehicle, Abhyas, that can be used as target for evaluation of various missile systems. 

Defence sources said two Abhyas vehicles, developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), were flight tested from a test range off Odisha coast. The High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) was launched using twin underslung booster.

“The trials were conducted at medium altitude. As per the requirement, flying altitude of 5 km, vehicle speed of Mach 0.5 and endurance of 30 minutes were achieved besides the 2 g (gravity turn) manoeuvre capability of the test vehicles,” said an official associated with the mission.

Abhyas has been designed for an autonomous flight with the help of an autopilot. It can also play the role of a jammer and decoy. Considered as a sibling of pilotless target aircraft Lakshya, it can be launched from a mobile launcher using two 68-mm boosters that are separated after the initial burnout. A small gas turbine powers the aerial vehicle to fly during the cruise phase.

Along with the flight control computer for guidance and control, the micro electromechanical-based inertial navigation system guides the aerial vehicle for perfect navigation. The check out of the air vehicle is done using laptop-based ground control station.

What differentiates Abhyas from Lakshya is its wing position. The wings of Abhyas are positioned on the upper-side of the aircraft whereas the Lakshya has under-body wings. However, the wings and tail plane of Abhyas have been derived from the Lakshya by downsizing them.

With an endurance of about 45 minutes, Abhyas is fitted with all advanced tracking equipment like sensors and GPS. It would supplement the Lakshya-I and Lakshya-II, already inducted in the armed forces. Having a length of 2,385 mm and diameter of 180 mm, the drone weighs around 75 kg. With a speed of Mach 0.5, it can attain an altitude of more than 5 km.