ABHYAS: High-speed Expendable Aerial Target

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Recently, The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested Abhyas High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur, off the Bay of Bengal coast in Odisha.

• DRDO is the Research & Development wing of the Ministry of Defence, Govt of India, with a vision to empower India with cutting-edge defence technologies.

Designed and developed by: 

• Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), of DRDO.
  • ADE is a key Aeronautical Systems Design Laboratory under DRDO.
  • It is involved in the design and development of state-of-the-art Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Aeronautical Systems and technologies to meet the requirements of the Indian Armed forces.

Features

• It is powered by a gas turbine engine to sustain a long endurance flight at subsonic speed.
• It is equipped with a MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems)-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 and their check-out is done using a laptop-based Ground Control Station (GCS).

Utility:

• It will be used as a target for the evaluation of various missile systems.
  • It offers a realistic threat scenario for practice of weapon systems.

Other Recent Developments:

• In September 2021, the DRDO tested a new version of the Akash Missile – ‘Akash Prime’ – from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, Odisha.
• In July 2021, DRDO launched the Akash-NG (New Generation) and the Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM).
• In June 2021 a new generation nuclear capable ballistic missile Agni-P (Prime) was successfully test-fired by the DRDO.
• In February 2021 India also successfully test-fired indigenously-developed anti-tank guided missile systems ‘Helina’ and ‘Dhruvastra’.
• In October 2020, the DRDO conducted a successful flight test of the Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.