Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) has announced that the debut flight test of indigenously developed UAV Rustom-2 would take place in the next couple of months. The Rustom drone is being developed exclusively for defence purpose and will have advanced capabilities and additional payloads. Neelam Mathews of AIN reported that according to Ashok Rangan, the program director at the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) the Rustom-2 UAV “is at an advanced state of readiness.” ADE is a premier DRDO lab which is designing and developing various UAVs including the Rustom as well other combat and solar drones.
Rustom-2 is benefiting from experience gained with the Rustom-1, also known as the Light Canard Research Aircraft (LCRA). According to ADE Director P S Krishnan, the entire project of making ten Rustom-2 UAVs and spare vehicles at a cost of around Rs. 2,400 Crore would be completed by August 2017.
The Rustom-2 UAV will be comparable to the American ‘Predator’ drone due to its state-of-art capabilities. Rustom-2 weighs 1.8 tonnes and will have a capacity payload of 350 kg, a wing span of 21-odd meters and an endurance of above 24 hours. Rustom UAVs could be deployed for military missions like reconnaissance and surveillance, target acquisition, target designation, communications relay, battle damage assessment and signal intelligence.
The biggest challenge being faced is an overweight airframe which weights 700kg more, the added weight obliged ADE to fit larger power plant namely the Austro AE300 diesel Engine rated at 170 hp.
ADE has revealed that all parts, except for cameras and sensors, have been developed indigenously in the country. Indigenous technology would enable ADE save about 40 per cent cost. ADE has indicated that UAVs will be crucial for the armed forces as they can perform missions from reconnaissance to surveillance as well as search & rescue operations. Indian Army pilots have already been trained on simulators and actual test flights of Rustom-1, which was developed earlier last year on a technology demonstration basis.
Meanwhile, Panchi, the wheeled version of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Nishant, capable of taking off from and landing on small airstrips, had its maiden flight on December 24, 2015 from an airfield at Kolar in Karnataka.
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