India test flies medium altitude, long endurance Rustom UAV

Rustom, the Medium altitude long endurance Unmanned Arial Vehicle being developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment, a DRDO lab specializing in UAVs and flight control systems, was successfully flown in its maiden flight. The aircraft was flown in a manner exactly as planned, up to a height of 3000 ft. and remained airborne for 30 minutes and completed all mission requirements. It taxied, took off and landed (among the most challenging maneuvers for a UAV), using a runway at an air field owned by Taneja Aerospace, Bangalore, like a normal aircraft with the ground based pilot in full control monitoring every maneuver of the aircraft and auto mode remaining on.
Ruston with a designed endurance of 12-15 hour, 25000 ft. altitude and 75 kg pay load is forerunner to the more advanced Rustom H and UCAV. The data link for this aircraft has been developed by DEAL, another DRDO laboratory and the airframe has been built by Zephyr Aerospace, Coimbatore.
16/10/10 Frontier India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Oct 2010, New Oct 2010