The Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) on September 22, 2020. The trial, DRDO from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near here, was tracked by various radars and electro-optic systemsThe vehicle can be used as target for evaluation of various missile. During the trials, two demonstrator vehicles were successfully test flown. systems. During the test campaign, the user requirement of 5 km flying altitude, vehicle speed of 0.5 Mach, endurance of 30 minutes and 2g turn capability of the test vehicle were successfully achieved.
Abhyas is designed & developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), DRDO. The air vehicle is launched using twin underslung booster. It is powered by a small gas turbine engine and has MEMS based Inertial Navigation System (INS) for navigation along with the Flight Control Computer (FCC) for guidance and control. The vehicle is programmed for fully autonomous flight. The check-out of air vehicle is done using laptop-based Ground Control Station (GCS).
The fuselage for the Abhyas was designed by adopting the DRDO Lakshya tow body. The fuselage consists of five sections, namely the nose cone, equipment bay, fuel tank bay, air intake bay and tail cone. The material for the nose and tail cones are made up of composite material (GFRP), whereas the material of the equipment bay, air intake bay and fuel tank are made up of an aluminum steel alloy. The wings and tail plane of the Abhyas have been derived from the Lakshya by downsizing them, however the wings of the Abhyas are positioned on the upper-side of the body whereas the Lakshya has under-body wings.
For propulsion it is fitted with a gas-turbine engine, having a thrust of 25 kg, with an endurance of 30–45 minutes. Abhyas is GPS-enabled, has an on-board flight control computer and a miss-distance indicator. It is also designed for autonomous flight with the help of an autopilot.The Abhyas is launched from a mobile launcher with the help of two 68 mm booster rockets. At the end of its launch phase the burnout booster rockets are jettisoned. Thereafter, the main gas-turbine engine powers the vehicle during cruise phase. Abhyas’s radar cross-section (RCS) as well as its visual and infrared signatures can be augmented to simulate a variety of aircraft for air-defense weapon practices.
