ABHYAS flight-tested successfully: Here's how DRDO's drone will help Indian armed forces

In a major boost for Indian armed forces, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday (September 22) conducted the successful flight test of ABHYAS--High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT). The flight test was done from the Interim Test Range, Balasore in Odisha.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called the the successful flight test of ABHYAS a milestone and said that ABHYAS can be used as a target for evaluation of various Missile systems.

He tweeted, "The DRDO achieved a milestone today with the successful flight test of ABHYAS - High-Speed Expandable Aerial Target from ITR Balasore. This can be used as a target for evaluation of various Missile systems. Congratulations to DRDO & other stakeholders for this achievement."

The DRDO achieved a milestone today with the successful flight test of ABHYAS - High Speed Expandable Aerial Target from ITR Balasore. This can be used as a target for evaluation of various Missile systems. Congratulations to @DRDO_India & other stakeholders for this achievement. — Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 22, 2020

ABHYAS is is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), DRDO and it is launched using twin underslung booster.

Design

DRDO has designed Abhyas on an in-line small gas turbine engine and it the device uses indigenously developed micro-electro-mechanical systems-based system for navigation and guidance.DRDO has adopted its Lakshya tow body to design the fuselage for the Abhyas. The fuselage consists of five sections, namely the nose cone, equipment bay, fuel tank bay, air intake bay and tail cone.

How Abhyas operates?

The air vehicle is launched using twin underslung booster. It is powered by a small gas turbine engine and has MEMS based Inertial Navigation System (INS) for navigation along with the Flight Control Computer (FCC) for guidance and control. The vehicle is programmed for fully autonomous flight. 

Transportation & storage

The Abhyas drone has  box for its transportation and storage made of EPE (Expanded Polyethylene) and with an XLPE (Cross-linked polyethylene) foam material inside. It is weather proof, drop and vibration proof.

Usage

Abhyas's radar cross-section (RCS) and its visual and infrared signatures can be used to simulate a variety of aircraft for air-defense weapon practices. It can also function as a jammer platform and decoy.