RUSTOM-2’s maiden flight successful, DRDO boosts ‘Make in India’ initiative

DRDO successfully carried out the maiden flight of TAPAS 201 (RUSTOM-II) thus giving a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India initiative.

Hyderabad, Nov 17: Giving a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on Wednesday heralded a new beginning of indigenous development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). In a major success, the DRDO successfully carried out the maiden flight of TAPAS 201 (RUSTOM-II). RUSTOM-II is a medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV which is a drone for surveillance and attack.

The test flight took place from Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, 250 km from Bangalore and completed its main objectives of proving the flying platform like take-off, bank, level flight and landing.. Chitradurga is a newly developed flight test range for the testing of UAVs and manned aircraft.

TAPAS 201 is a multi-mission UAV that is  being developed to carry out the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) roles for the three Armed Forces with an endurance of 24 hours. As per reports by TOI, the UAV is been designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), the Bangalore-based premier lab of DRDO with HAL-BEL as its production partner.(ALSO READ: DRDO successfully test fires India-Israeli Barak-8 surface-to-air missile from ITR in Chandipur)

The UAV weighs two tonnes and is also the first R&D prototype UAV which has undergone certification and qualification for the first flight from the Center for Military Airworthiness & Certification (CEMILAC) and Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA), TOI reported. Rustom- II will undergo further trials for validating the design parameters, before going for User Validation Trials.

TAPAS 201 is capable of carrying Medium Range Electro Optic (MREO), Long Range Electro Optic (LREO), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT), Communication Intelligence (COMINT) and Situational Awareness Payloads (SAP) to perform missions during day and night.

The development of UAV immensely contributes towards the Make-in-India initiative as many critical systems such as airframe, landing gear, flight control and avionics sub-systems are being developed in India with the collaboration of private industries. Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL) of DRDO has developed the data link for the UAV.