India, on 29 June, successfully tested the indigenously-designed Abhyas – a High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) – in Odisha. The trial was carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Odisha’s Chandipur.
The aircraft is programmed for a fully autonomous flight, meaning that it flies under the control of automatic systems and needs no intervention from a human pilot.
During the test flight, the aircraft was flown from a ground-based controller to examine its manoeuvrability and performance at low altitudes. The air vehicle was launched using twin under-slung boosters during the demonstration, which provided initial acceleration. It is powered by a small gas turbine engine for endurance flights at high subsonic speed.
