India carries out maiden flight of unmanned combat aircraft

JULY 1, 2022

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out the maiden flight of the autonomous flying wing technology from the Aeronautical Test Range in Karnataka’s Chitradurga on Friday.

DRDO officials said, “In a major success towards developing unmanned combat aircraft, the maiden flight of the Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator was carried out successfully from the Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, Karnataka today.”

Giving further details on the flight, the DRDO in a statement said, “Operating in a fully autonomous mode, the aircraft exhibited a perfect flight, including take-off, way point 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.”

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru, a premier research laboratory under 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.

RAJNATH SINGH CONGRATULATES DRDO

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO on successfully carrying out the maiden flight of an unmanned flight aircraft.

He tweeted, “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.”