Even as Indian Defence Forces have increased the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and drones in the changing situation at the borders, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) the research arm of the Indian forces, has clarified that the recently test flown UAV TAPAS 201(RUSTOM-II) has no combat capabilities but has developed only for surveillance.
In a Press conference DRDO chief S Christopher clarified on Sunday in Bengaluru that the Rustom-II has been developed to meet only the surveillance needs of the forces. He said “We have to make 10 aircraft for test-flying before going into certification. We will require a one year of continuous effort before we can go knocking on the doors of the users (armed forces).”
S Christopher said TAPAS-BH-201(Tactical Advanced Platform for Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon-201) will be in a non-combat role. “Media reports are incorrect. Tapas is an UAV and not an UCAV,” Christopher said. He said the UAV is developed for surveillance purpose only at a total cost of `1,500 crore.
Recently the DRDO was successfully carried out the maiden flight of TAPAS 201 (RUSTOM – II), a Medium Altitude long Endurance (MAlE) UAV at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, 250 km from Bangalore. Chitradurga is a newly developed flight test range for the testing of UAVs and manned aircraft.
The flight accomplished the main objectives of proving the flying platform, such as take-off, bank, level flight and landing. TAPAS 201 has been designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), the Bangalore-based premier lab of DRDO with HAl-BEl as its production partner.
According to an official release, 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. Rustom- II will undergo further trials for validating the design parameters, before going for User Validation Trials.
According to Dr CP Ramanarayanan director general of Aeronautical Systems, DRDO, is set to conduct the trial test on light Combat Aircraft (lCA) powered by Kaveri engines in the next 18 months.He said apart from military use, the Indian Railways has shown interest in using this engine to power trains. Bharat Heavy Electricals limited is partnering the project.
Deadline for the testing of Kaveri engines have been delayed several times, after work for its development started in 1986.
Commenting on the expenses incurred with respect to the project, he said that till date `2,100 crore has been spent on the project. The total cost of developing the engine, which is expected to power Tejas lCA, will increase by another 500-600 crore by 2018, he added.
The agency also gave updates on the light Combat Aircraft (lCA) Tejas programme in the backdrop of the Centre clearing decks for placement of an additional 83 aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF), taking the total orders of lCA to 123.
Responding to queries regarding export potential of the new engine, programme director for Combat Aircraft and director of Aeronautical Development Agency C D Balaji said that there have been enquiries for Tejas from a few countries. At a recent airshow in Bahrain, countries such as Turkmenistan, Bangladesh and Sri lanka have expressed interest in the aircraft, he said.
