ABHYAS is a high-speed expendable aerial target system which can be used for the evaluation of various missiles

India’s premier defence research organization, DRDO successfully carried out a flight test of ABHYAS--High Speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from the Interim Test Range, Balasore in Odisha. During the trials, which were conducted on Tuesday, two demonstrator vehicles were successfully test flown. The vehicle can be used as a target for evaluation of various missile systems.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for conducting a successful flight test of ABHYAS from Odisha test range. “The DRDO achieved a milestone today with the successful flight test of ABHYAS -High Speed Expendable Aerial Target from ITR Balasore. This can be used as a target for evaluation of various Missile systems. Congratulations to @DRDO_India & other stakeholders for this achievement,” Rajnath Singh said in his tweet.

ABHYAS is designed and developed by 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 the air vehicle is done using a laptop based Ground Control Station (GCS). During the test campaign, the user requirement of 5 km flying altitude, vehicle speed of 0.5 mach, endurance of 30 minutes and 2g turn capability of the test vehicle were successfully achieved.