DRDO's UAV 'Nishant' completes confirmatory flight trials

New Delhi, Feb 3 (ANI): Nishant, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has successfully completed the series of confirmatory trials conducted by the Indian Army at Chandan Range Pokharan recently.

The Army conducted the successful flight trials before taking delivery of a set of four Nishant - UAVs together with ground systems.

The trials were witnessed by Lt Gen Vinod Nayanar AVSM, Director General Artillery, P S Krishnan, Distinguished Scientist and Director ADE, senior scientists from ADE and DEAL, Army Trial Team and the representatives from the Army regiment that is ultimately going to use the equipment.

Explaining the salient features of the versatile Nishant - UAV, which is capable of being launched from a hydro pneumatic launcher, without the need of a runway, Dr Prahlada, Chief Controller Research and Development (Aeronautics and Services Interaction) said: "The launch vehicle can be parked in a safe area and moved to any location for launching when ever required making it very versatile."

He said the system consists of the air vehicle supported by "ground control station" equipment mounted on "Tatra" vehicles. It has endurance up to 4.5 hrs.

"It has been designed to facilitate recovery at a desired place with the help of parachutes and landing bags. Nishant can be used in roles like battle field reconnaissance (day and night), surveillance, target tracking and localization and correction of artillery fire," he added.

The payloads that can be carried onboard Nishant for surveillance includes Electro Optical, Electronic Intelligence and Communication Intelligence payloads. It can also be used for counter insurgency operations.

Nishant has been designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a DRDO laboratory specializing in UAVs, Flight Control Systems and Simulators, in partnership with other DRDO laboratories namely Defence Electronics Applications Laboratory (DEAL), Dehradun, Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), Pune and Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra. (ANI)