NEW DELHI: India's first indigenous sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for strategic reconnaissance and monitoring will make its public debut next week, while another home-grown weaponised drone is also slated to undertake its first flight test by June-July.
The Tapas-BH (tactical aerial platform for sophisticated surveillance-beyond horizon) drone, developed by DRDO with over 180 flights clocked till now, will live-stream the aerial and static display screen of different aircraft throughout the Aero-India show at Bengaluru.
Tapas-BH will showcase its abilities, that includes operating at altitudes approximately 28,000-feet with an endurance of over 18 hours.
The medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) is DRDOs solution for ISTAR (intelligence, security, target acquisition and reconnaissance) requirements of the Army, IAF and Navy, a defence ministry authorities said on Thursday.The armed drone called Archer-NG (next generation), which can carry 300 kg of weapons including smart anti-airfield weapons (SAAWs) and anti-tank assisted missiles, in turn, will be flight-tested for the first time by June-July, sources said.The Tapas-BH drone, earlier called Rustom-2, has a maximum speed of 225 kmph with a 20.6-metre wing period and a command range of 1,000-km with satellite-based communication.
The UAV, likewise capable of night-flying, is now preparing for official user-trial evaluation by the militaries.
It can afterwards opt for production in large numbers by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bharat Electronics and others, a source said.The functional energy of drones and AI-enabled drone swarms has actually been driven house by current conflicts varying from Armenia-Azerbaijan to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine one.India, nevertheless, has lagged far behind others in establishing sophisticated UAVs and has actually turned to importing Heron and Searcher-II drones in great deals from Israel throughout the years.
The Navy likewise has 2 unarmed MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones on lease.