Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted four flight trials of High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) – ABHYAS from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.
Flight tests were conducted with four different mission objectives in the modified powered configuration. A single booster designed by Advanced Systems Laboratory, Hyderabad was used for this.
The objectives like the safe release of the booster, launcher clearance and attaining the required end-of-launch velocity have been achieved.
Various parameters like required endurance, speed, manoeuvrability, altitude and range were successfully validated during the flight trials.
ABHYAS has been designed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE). It has been designed for autonomous flying with the help of an autopilot indigenously made by the ADE.
It has a 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 perform pre-flight checks, in-flight data recording, post-flight replay and post-flight analysis.
