India on Friday carried out the maiden flight of the ‘Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator’, a critical step towards the country’s plans to have a full-fledged stealth combat drone. The exercise, DRDO said in its statement, was carried out at the Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, Karnataka today.

Giving more details on the flight, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRD0) said the aircraft exhibited a perfect flight, including take-off, way-point navigation and a smooth touchdown while operating in a fully autonomous mode.

“Operating in a fully autonomous mode, the aircraft exhibited a perfect flight, including take-off, waypoint navigation and a smooth touchdown. This flight marks a major milestone in terms of proving critical technologies towards the development of future unmanned aircraft and is a significant step towards self-reliance in such strategic defence technologies.”

Designed and developed by the Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a premier research laboratory under the DRDO, the unmanned fighter aircraft is powered by a small, turbofan engine, the New Delhi-headquartered agency noted further. This technology demonstrator is part of India’s eventual plan to build an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) which will be capable of reconnaissance and will also carry out tactical actions like dropping both missiles and bombs.

The airframe, undercarriage and the entire flight control and avionics systems were developed indigenously, DRDO officials said.

Meanwhile, congratulating DRDO, defence minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, “Congratulations to @DRDO_India on the successful maiden flight of the Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator from Chitradurga ATR. It is a major achievement towards autonomous aircraft which will pave the way for Aatmanirbhar Bharat in terms of critical military systems.”

Image source: DRDO