2019 – Posted in: Press Information Bureau

Flight test of ABHYAS-HEAT

(Ministry of Defence)

WHAT

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted successful flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from Interim Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.

‘Abhyas’ is designed for autonomous flying with the help of an autopilot.
The flight test was tracked by various RADARS & Electro Optic Systems and proved its performance in fully autonomous way point navigation mode.
The configuration of ABHYAS is designed on an in-line small gas turbine engine and uses indigenously developed MEMS based navigation system for its navigation and guidance.
A Luneburg lens in the nose cone improves the radar cross-section of the target for weapons practice. It also has an acoustic miss distance indicator (AMDI) to indicate the missed distance.
The performance of the system was as per simulations carried out and demonstrated the capability of ABHYAS to meet the mission requirement for a cost effective HEAT.

DEVELOPMENT

DRDO Abhyas is a high-speed expendable aerial target (HEAT) being built by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Armed Forces.

FLIGHT PROFILE

The Abhyas is launched from a mobile launcher with the help of two 68 mm booster rockets (being manufactured at ordinance factories). At the end of its launch phase the burnout booster rockets are jettisoned. Thereafter, the main gas-turbine engine powers the vehicle during cruise phase.

OTHER RELATED INVENTIONS

DRDO Ulka

It has been developed by DRDO’s laboratory Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE).
Ulka was earlier simply known as MT (Missile Target).
It has been succeeded by Lakshya PTA (Pilotless Target Aircraft)
Ulka is the first Indian aerial vehicle to incorporate a canard configuration.
It has been designed to be launched from subsonic or supersonic aircraft.
Ulka performed missions between 50 m to 13,000 m altitude at speeds ranging from 0.7 to 1.4 Mach with a rocket motor.
It is used for defensive training of surface-to-air missile crews against anti-ship missiles and for development testing and evaluation of air defense systems.
It can be air-launched by a variety of aircraft. It is the first Indian aerial vehicle to incorporate a canard configuration.

DRDO Lakshya

Lakshya is an Indian remotely piloted high speed target drone system.
It is developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO.
A variant Lakshya-1 is used to perform discreet aerial reconnaissance of battlefield and target acquisition.
The drone is ground or ship launched from a zero length launcher and recovery is by a two-stage parachute system developed by ADE (DRDO), for land- or sea-based recovery.
The flight path may be controlled or pre-programmed, based upon the type of mission.

DRDO Fluffy

The DRDO Fluffy was a target drone designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) in Bangalore in early 1970s for use by the Indian Armed Forces.

It had a maximum endurance of 5 minutes and could be launched from the maximum altitude of 30,000 feet. After the development of the reusable Aerial Target DRDO Lakshya, which was simpler and more economical to use than Fluffy, the production of the latter was discontinued.

Source: PIB

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