India’s under-development Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Rustom-2 was successfully test-flown on Sunday by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
“This flight assumes significance because of the fact that this is the first flight in user configuration with a higher power engine. All parameters were normal,” the DRDO said in a statement. The flight was conducted at the DRDO’s Aeronautical Test Range at Chitradurga in Karnataka.
Rustom-2 belongs to a family of UAVs under development, besides Rustom-1 and Rustom-H. It is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance drone (MALE). It can fly up to an altitude of 22,000 feet and has an endurance of over 20 hours. It is capable of carrying payloads for electronic and signal intelligence missions.
Currently, the three services employ hundreds of Israeli drones and have projected a requirement of hundreds of more UAVs, including armed variants, in the near future. The DRDO is also developing other drones in different categories.
