Watch: DRDO successfully conducts maiden flight of unmanned aircraft
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday (July 1) said it had successfully conducted the maiden flight of a Made-in-India unmanned fighter aircraft.
The inaugural flight of the Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator was carried out successfully from the Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, Karnataka on July 1, DRDO said in a statement.
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“Operating in a fully autonomous mode, the aircraft exhibited a perfect flight, including take-off, waypoint navigation and a smooth touchdown. This flight marks a major milestone in terms of proving critical technologies towards the development of future unmanned aircraft and is a significant step towards self-reliance in such strategic defence technologies,” it added.
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru, a premier research laboratory of DRDO. It is powered by a small turbofan engine. The airframe, undercarriage and entire flight control and avionics systems used for the aircraft were developed indigenously.
‘Major achievement’
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO and said it is a “major achievement” towards autonomous aircraft and will pave the way for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ in terms of critical military systems.
“Congratulations to @DRDO_India on successful maiden flight of the Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator from Chitradurga ATR. It is a major achievement towards autonomous aircrafts which will pave the way for Aatmanirbhar Bharat in terms of critical military systems,” Rajnath tweeted.
#DRDOUpdates | Successful Maiden Flight of Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator@PMOIndia https://t.co/K2bsCRXaYp https://t.co/brHxaH7wbF pic.twitter.com/SbMnI5tgUM
— DRDO (@DRDO_India) July 1, 2022
Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr. G Satheesh Reddy appreciated the efforts of the teams associated in the design, development and testing of the system.
