• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out the maiden flight-test of the ‘autonomous flying wing technology demonstrator’ at Chitradurga in Karnataka.

• Operating in a fully autonomous mode, the unmanned aircraft exhibited a perfect flight and a smooth touchdown.

• The flight marked a major milestone in proving critical technologies towards development of future unmanned aircraft and is a significant step towards self-reliance in such strategic defence technologies.

• The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru, a premier research laboratory of DRDO.

• It is powered by a small turbofan engine. The airframe, undercarriage and entire flight control and avionics systems used for the aircraft were indigenously developed.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

DRDO is the research and development wing of the defence ministry. Its vision is to empower India with cutting-edge defence technologies and a mission to achieve self-reliance in critical defence technologies and systems, while equipping our armed forces with state-of-the-art weapon systems and equipment in accordance with the requirements laid down by the three services.

DRDO was formed in 1958 from the amalgamation of the then already functioning Technical Development Establishment of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development & Production with the Defence Science Organisation. DRDO was then a small organisation with 10 establishments or laboratories. Over the years, it has grown multi-directionally in terms of the variety of subject disciplines, number of laboratories, achievements and stature.

Today, DRDO is a network of more than 50 laboratories that are deeply engaged in developing defence technologies covering various disciplines such as aeronautics, armaments, electronics, combat vehicles, engineering systems, instrumentation, missiles, advanced computing and simulation, special materials, naval systems, life sciences, training, information systems and agriculture. Several major projects for the development of missiles, armaments, light combat aircrafts, radars, electronic warfare systems, etc are on hand and significant achievements have already been made in several such technologies.

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