ADE to start work on Unmanned Air Vehicle 'Rustom'

Bangalore, Sept 1 (UNI) Defence aviation research organisation, Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) will soon initiate work on its third Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) 'Rustom' an ADE official said today.

Speaking at a lecture series organised by the Aeronautical Society of India (ASI) here, ADE Director R S Krishnan said Rustom, a long endurance UAV, would have the capability of staying on air for about 24 hours and hovering around a height of 35,000 ft.

ADE had developed Lakshya, which had already been operationalised by the three forces of Indian defence and licensed to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for serial production.

He said each Lakshya could last 15 flights and some of them have even completed 20 flights. As many as 172 flights of Lakshya, launched both from land and ship were completed.

On Nishant, the unmanned surveillance vehicle, he said the user trials were completed with as many as 109 flights logged. In the first phase the Indian army would take four Nishants and in the second phase, it has been envisaged to procure eight such aircraft.

UNI