New Delhi: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully carried out maiden flight of the Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator from the Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga in Karnataka today, the Ministry of Defence said.
The aircraft exhibited perfect flight, in a fully autonomous mode, including take-off, waypoint navigation and a smooth touchdown, the Ministry said in a statement.
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 said.
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is designed & 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, the ministry said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO saying that it is a major achievement toward autonomous aircraft and will pave the way for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ in terms of critical military systems.
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, the statement added.
