The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday carried out the maiden flight of the Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator from the Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga, Karnataka.
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru, a premier research laboratory of DRDO. Operating in a fully autonomous mode, the aircraft exhibited a perfect flight, including take-off, waypoint navigation and a smooth touchdown.
This flight marks a major milestone in terms of proving critical technologies for the development of future unmanned aircraft and is a significant step towards self-reliance in such strategic defence technologies.
The aircraft 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
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while congratulating DRDO tweeted, " It is a major achievement towards autonomous aircrafts which will pave the way for Aatmanirbhar Bharat in terms of critical military systems."
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