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Successful flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) was conducted by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

• The test conducted at  Interim Test Range, Balasore in Odisha.
• Two demonstrator vehicles were successfully test flown.

ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT)

• The vehicle can be used as target for evaluation of various missile systems.
• Abhyas is designed & developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), DRDO.
• 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.
  • Abhyas is designed for autonomous flying with the help of an autopilot.
• The check out of air vehicle is done using laptop based Ground Control Station (GCS).
  • Abhyas has RCS, Visual and IR augmentation systems required for weapon practice.
• The fuselage consists of five sections, namely the nose cone, equipment bay, fuel tank bay, air intake bay and tail cone.
• Achievements during the test
  • The user requirement of 5 km flying altitude
  • Vehicle speed of 0.5 mach
  • Endurance of 30 minutes and 2g turn capability
  • At the end of its launch phase the burnout booster rockets are ejected and the main gas-turbine engine powers the vehicle during cruise phase

Source : PIB

Topic

Prelims : About ABHYAS

GS III : Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology

Current Affairs Compilation for : 23 September 2020