8 October 2010, Hosur, Bangalore: India’s ambitious unmanned aerial vehicle UAV programme received a major boost when the second flight of the Rustom-1 technology demonstrator UAV was conducted successfully in Bangalore on Saturday. This follows a failed test last year November when faulty operation of the UAV demonstrator had resulted in a crash. Bothe the tests were conducted at the Taneja Aerospace facility at Hosur near Bangalore. The flight of the second Rustom-1 prototype lasted 30 minutes. The Rustom-1 is a technology feeder programme for the proposed Rustom-H medium altitude long endurance MALE UAV which is yet to fly. According to the Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO, the Rustom-1 is a forerunner of the more advanced Rustom-H and an unmanned combat aerial vehicle UCAV. The MALE UAV is being developed by a DRDO lab, the Aeronautical Development Establishment ADE, a premier DRDO lab specializing in UAVs and flight control systems. The DRDO said the demonstrator 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. The demonstrator taxied, took off and landed 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 manoeuvre of the aircraft and auto mode remaining on. Being the first full flight of the aircraft, it was under the command of Lt Col VS Thapa of the …
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