Within 4 days DRDO conducted 4 successful flight trials of ‘ABHYAS’.

GNS ONLINE NEWS PORTAL

SHYAM SOOD 

RAJOURI/NEW DELHI FEB 05:--Within four days, from January 30 to February 2, the DRDO has successfully conducted four flight trials of the high-speed expendable aerial target (HEAT)- ABHYAS from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated the DRDO, the Armed Forces and the Industry for the successful flight trial of ABHYAS.
“The development of this system (ABHYAS) will meet the requirements of aerial targets for the Armed Forces,” said Rajnath Singh.
“Four flight trials of High Speed Expendable Aerial Target-ABHYAS with different mission objectives in a revised robust configuration using single booster was successfully conducted from ITR, Chandipur during 30 Jan to 2 Feb 2024” read DRDO’s post on X”.
“The trials were conducted with four different mission objectives in a revised robust configuration using a single booster designed by Advanced Systems Laboratory, Hyderabad to provide reduced launch acceleration,” said DRDO
The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) claimed that during four flight trials the objectives like safe release of booster, launcher clearance and attaining the required end of launch velocity were achieved.
“During the flight trials, various parameters like required endurance, speed, manoeuvrability, altitude, and range were successfully validated,” DRDO added.
ABHYAS-designed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE)- offers a realistic threat scenario for practice of weapon systems and is designed for autonomous flying with the help of an auto pilot indigenously made by the ADE.
ABHYAS has Radar Cross Section, Visual and Infrared augmentation system required for weapon practice. It has a laptop-based Ground Control System with which the aircraft can be integrated and pre-flight checks, data recording during the flight, replay after the flight and post-flight analysis can be carried out.
ABHYAS requires minimum logistics and is cost effective compared to imported equivalents.
The systems tested recently were realised through Production Agencies – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Defence.
With identified production agencies, ABHYAS is ready for production. The system has export potential and can be offered to friendly countries.
Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr Samir V Kamat appreciated the efforts of the teams associated in the design, development and testing of the system.