New Delhi: Even as Pakistani leaders continue to gnash their teeth and utter at least one threat against India every day – the latest of a full-spectrum war – the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) continues to test next-generation technology.
On Saturday, DRDO successfully carried out maiden flight-trials of its Stratospheric Airship Platform from Sheopur Trial site in Madhya Pradesh. Developed by Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, Agra, the airship successfully carried an instrumental payload to an altitude of around 17 kms.
To put things in perspective, Mt Everest is less than 9 km in height and the maximum ceiling of commercial airliners is around 14 km.
Data from onboard sensors was received 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. Trial team recovered the system for further investigation. The total duration of the flight was about 62 minutes.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful maiden flight-trial of the system. He stated that this system will uniquely enhance India’s earth observation and Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance capabilities, making the country one of the few countries in the world having such indigenous capabilities.
Secretary, Department of Defence, R&D, and chairman, DRDO, Samir V Kamat congratulated his team involved in design, development and trial of the system. He 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.
