DRDO carries out test flight of autonomous UAV

What is the News?

DRDO has successfully carried out the maiden test flight of a new Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), an autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator from the Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, Karnataka.

Who has developed this Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)?

Designed and Developed by: Aeronautical Development Establishment(ADE), Bengaluru, a premier research laboratory under DRDO. 

Features

It is powered by a small turbofan engine. It is a stealth drone.

Note: A turbofan engine is a jet engine variant which produces thrust using a combination of jet core efflux and bypass air which has been accelerated by a ducted fan that is driven by the jet core. 

Stealth aircraft tend to adopt the design referred to as a “flying wing”. This is a tailless, fixed-wing design that has no fuselage. Its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment are housed inside the main wing structure. It works by balancing its airflow and centre of gravity so that no tail is needed.

What are the other UAVs being developed by DRDO?

Ghatak armed stealth drone programme or Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA): It is a self-defending, high-speed, reconnaissance UAV with a weapons firing capability.

Rustom-2: It is an indigenous Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. This drone is being designed to reach an altitude of 30,000 feet and 18 hours of endurance.

Source: The post is based on the article “DRDO carries out test flight of autonomous UAV” published in The Hindu on 2nd July 2022