A successful flight-test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) was on Tuesday conducted by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Interim Test Range (ITR), Baleswar.
During the trials, two demonstrator vehicles were successfully test flown. The vehicle can be used as target for evaluation of various missile systems.
ABHYAS is designed and developed by the 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. The check out of air vehicle is done using laptop based Ground Control Station (GCS).