RUSTOM-II UCAV's High Speed Taxi-Trials (HSTT) Re-Commence With Indigenously Developed Actuators

[Chanakya's_Chant]

India is finally looking to enter the era of armed drones

RUSTOM-II UCAV​

Ever since a weaponized Chinese CH-3 Drone crashed in Nigeria and Pakistan unveiled an 'indigenous' version of the same drone called Burraq, there is a newfound urgency in India to develop armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). As such, work on weaponizing the Rustom-I medium altitude long endurance UAV is being hastened and first weapon trials will take place this year. The Rustom-I, developed by DRDO's Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) will initially be armed with the HELINA anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) and subsequently with smaller munitions specifically developed for UAV carriage.

Armed UAV development in India has been carried out at a rather slow pace till date owing at least partly to American concerns about the same. These concerns were likely taken into account because key domestic UAV development programmes till recently had been somewhat dependent on American sources for key components such as actuators. However the recent United States (US) State Department's withdrawal of export licenses on MTCR grounds for some seven types of MOOG actuators that feature in ADE's flagship Rustom-II MALE UAV means that India need no longer be so concerned about what America thinks. As of now, indigenously developed replacement actuators have completed electro-magnetic interference/compatibility tests etc and high speed taxi-trials (HSTT) of the Rustom-II have re-commenced. These taxi-trials will go up to a speed of 55 knots, just 10 knots shy of take-off speed. First flight will happen in June 2015 after a delay of more than a year on account of MOOG's non-supply. Currently, a move to indigenize all critical components for domestically developed UAVs is also underway.

Now though Rustom-II is essentially a C4ISR platform, it too could potentially feature weapons in the future. But for that, the Rustom-I has to become a pathfinder for armed UAV development in India. At the moment, only some weapon carrying taxi-trials have been done with the Rustom-I. The image enclosed below (Pic) depicts the same.

Rustom-I taxiing with two HELINAs underwing. Courtesy DRDO​

Meanwhile the manned Light Canard Research Aircraft (LCRA) on which the Rustom-I's platform is based, was used successfully to demonstrate automatic take-off and landing capability (ATOL) just last week. After some more trials, the same capability will be ported to an actual Rustom-I. Once successfully completed, ATOL will take care of one of the prime demands the Indian Army (IA) has made with respect to the Rustom-I's capability set. ATOL after all reduces the occurrence of accidents at airfields and is also a facilitator of true day/night capability. It is likely that the capability growth of the Rustom-I with respect to handling, better recon payloads (also under development) and weaponization will lead to the IA dropping its currently lukewarm approach to the drone.

Nevertheless, even as the IA demands more, the Indian Navy (IN) could well become the first customer of the Rustom-I. In recent months the Rustom-I's maritime recon capabilities have been demonstrated to the IN off the coast of Tamil Nadu. Rustom-I, given its size is far more difficult for targets like illegal fishing trawlers to spot than manned aircraft which usually carry out coastal surveillance duties. Moreover Rustom-I flights are likely to prove cheaper as well.

The Rustom-II however already has some 'firmish' orders on hand. The military across all three services has projected an initial requirement for 75 units. During Aero India 2015, a memorandum of understanding between DRDO, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) was signed for the productionization of the Rustom-II. HAL will be the lead integrator for the Rustom-II with parts built by private players and BEL will supply the ground control systems for the same. Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Limited (TAAL) incidentally has built the fuselage of existing Rustom-II prototypes. The all critical datalinks for the Rustom-II have been developed by DRDO's Defence Electronics Application Laboratory, Dehradun. In the future the Rustom-II will feature indigenous engines in the 165-210 HP class currently being developed by DRDO's Vehicles Research and Development Establishment in partnership with Tech Mahindra. Two flying prototypes of each service version (i.e Army, Navy, Air force) will be part of the Rustom-II development program.

Indian UAV programmes need to be speeded up. For that it is important that the proposed aeronautical test range in Karnataka be set up without any more delay. This would be crucial for not just developing UAVs armed with kinetic munitions but also for honing airborne unmanned electronic attack capability.

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Source:- Saurav Jha's Blog : India is finally looking to enter the era of armed drones

 

[TheFlyingPretzel]

Rustom-I taxiing with two HELINAs underwing. Courtesy DRDO​

Indian fabrication is cheap and rudimentary. A direct reflection perhaps of its rushed and often ill-planned research misadventures.

Ever since the Rustom-I's pictures carrying what appear to be missiles on its wing brackets have surfaced, I can't help but notice how horribly out of alignment they appear to be. Not that it would make a great difference firing them, but just the pitiful lack of quality and care put into arming the UAV is utterly disgraceful.

Often the only thing distinguishing indigenous Indian aeronautical crafts from the toys I buy from RC is the hefty price tag associated with the former. And perhaps all the hollow praise from the legions of Indian fanboys who've made def.pk their home.

 

[Kinetic]

Indian fabrication is cheap and rudimentary. A direct reflection perhaps of its rushed and often ill-planned research misadventures.

Ever since the Rustom-I's pictures carrying what appear to be missiles on its wing brackets have surfaced, I can't help but notice how horribly out of alignment they appear to be. Not that it would make a great difference firing them, but just the pitiful lack of quality and care put into arming the UAV is utterly disgraceful.

Often the only thing distinguishing indigenous Indian aeronautical crafts from the toys I buy from RC is the hefty price tag associated with the former. And perhaps all the hollow praise from the legions of Indian fanboys who've made def.pk their home.

When you open mouth it always produces BS as usual.


Read before posting. LCRA was developed in 90s as a test aircraft for canard technology so old is Rustom-I design.

 

[The Huskar]

Indian fabrication is cheap and rudimentary. A direct reflection perhaps of its rushed and often ill-planned research misadventures.

Ever since the Rustom-I's pictures carrying what appear to be missiles on its wing brackets have surfaced, I can't help but notice how horribly out of alignment they appear to be. Not that it would make a great difference firing them, but just the pitiful lack of quality and care put into arming the UAV is utterly disgraceful.

Often the only thing distinguishing indigenous Indian aeronautical crafts from the toys I buy from RC is the hefty price tag associated with the former. And perhaps all the hollow praise from the legions of Indian fanboys who've made def.pk their home.

That's quite rich coming from a country that re-paints Chinese drones and call it "indigenous".
Make a 100cc bike engine first and then criticise others about lack of quality.

 

[Agent_47]

@Chanakya's_Chant Why did you start a new thread with with different title ?
@waz please merge

 

[Umair Nawaz]

Indian fabrication is cheap and rudimentary. A direct reflection perhaps of its rushed and often ill-planned research misadventures.

Ever since the Rustom-I's pictures carrying what appear to be missiles on its wing brackets have surfaced, I can't help but notice how horribly out of alignment they appear to be. Not that it would make a great difference firing them, but just the pitiful lack of quality and care put into arming the UAV is utterly disgraceful.

Often the only thing distinguishing indigenous Indian aeronautical crafts from the toys I buy from RC is the hefty price tag associated with the former. And perhaps all the hollow praise from the legions of Indian fanboys who've made def.pk their home.

got to admit it looks awfully ugly.

 

[Viva India]

got to admit it looks awfully ugly.

Its not low Cost Chinese UAV in service with poor nations like Nigeria... Etc

 

[Cyberian]

Its not low Cost Chinese UAV in service with poor nations like Nigeria... Etc

Hang on a minute, the last time I checked Nigeria had twice the higher per capita rate than the Supa Powa India.

Here look...
List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Alfa-Fighter]

Hang on a minute, the last time I checked Nigeria had twice the higher per capita rate than the Supa Powa India.

Here look...
List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lol this is nothing , the per Capita as per PPP is the right measurement .

IN PAK it takes more then 1 $ to buy burger where as in India it come under 1$.

 

[Echo_419]

Indian fabrication is cheap and rudimentary. A direct reflection perhaps of its rushed and often ill-planned research misadventures.

Ever since the Rustom-I's pictures carrying what appear to be missiles on its wing brackets have surfaced, I can't help but notice how horribly out of alignment they appear to be. Not that it would make a great difference firing them, but just the pitiful lack of quality and care put into arming the UAV is utterly disgraceful.

Often the only thing distinguishing indigenous Indian aeronautical crafts from the toys I buy from RC is the hefty price tag associated with the former. And perhaps all the hollow praise from the legions of Indian fanboys who've made def.pk their home.

So much BS in 1 post many wow

 

[GORKHALI]

Indian fabrication is cheap and rudimentary. A direct reflection perhaps of its rushed and often ill-planned research misadventures.

Ever since the Rustom-I's pictures carrying what appear to be missiles on its wing brackets have surfaced, I can't help but notice how horribly out of alignment they appear to be. Not that it would make a great difference firing them, but just the pitiful lack of quality and care put into arming the UAV is utterly disgraceful.

Often the only thing distinguishing indigenous Indian aeronautical crafts from the toys I buy from RC is the hefty price tag associated with the former. And perhaps all the hollow praise from the legions of Indian fanboys who've made def.pk their home.

Ho gayi bejati.....ab jao mu chupao....Khene se phele soch liya kar mere bhai....You are a pakistani not an american or even European with vast and deep knowledge of advance aerospace or any other technology.

 

[Chanakya's_Chant]

@Chanakya's_Chant Why did you start a new thread with with different title ?
@waz please merge

Sorry - I copied it from a FB post.

Hang on a minute, the last time I checked Nigeria had twice the higher per capita rate than the Supa Powa India.

Here look...
List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Be concerned about yourself only - Pakistan's per capita GDP is even lesser than India whereas if you have to compare standards of living - in terms of PPP India raks higher than Nigeria and there as well Pakistan's per capita GDP PPP is less than both the countries.

got to admit it looks awfully ugly.

And then we have your countrymen taking pride in alleging it to be an exact copy of CH-3 or the so called "Burraq" - Wonder what looks more ugly - the Burraq or CH-3? Wait, they both are the same!

 

[Skull and Bones]

Can't wait for our own predator.

 

[kaku1]

Indian fabrication is cheap and rudimentary. A direct reflection perhaps of its rushed and often ill-planned research misadventures.

Ever since the Rustom-I's pictures carrying what appear to be missiles on its wing brackets have surfaced, I can't help but notice how horribly out of alignment they appear to be. Not that it would make a great difference firing them, but just the pitiful lack of quality and care put into arming the UAV is utterly disgraceful.

Often the only thing distinguishing indigenous Indian aeronautical crafts from the toys I buy from RC is the hefty price tag associated with the former. And perhaps all the hollow praise from the legions of Indian fanboys who've made def.pk their home.

Now boy take a compass and check the alignment, these are guided missiles, not unguided as your brain is.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

One can understand the trauma u get after seeing Predator looking Rustom 2 . What can you do ? Just wait for Chinese gift