New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully carried out maiden flight test of Stratospheric Airship Platform from Sheopur Trial site in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday (May 03).
Developed by Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment at UP’s Agra, the airship was launched carrying an instrumental payload to an altitude of around 17 kms.
The officials have received data from onboard sensors and would be utilised for development of high-quality fidelity simulation models for future high-altitude airship flights.
Envelop pressure control and emergency deflation systems were deployed in flight for their performance evaluation. The test team recovered the system for further detailed study. The total duration of the flight was about 62 minutes.
Defence minister congratulates DRDO team
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO for the successful flight test of the system. Singh stated that this system will uniquely enhance India’s earth observation and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities, making the country one of the few nations having developed such indigenous capabilities.
Dr Samir V Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO, also congratulated the DRDO team involved in design, development and trial of the system. Kamat said the prototype flight is a milestone towards realisation of lighter-than-air high-altitude platform systems that can remain airborne for very long endurance at stratospheric heights.
