DRDO Rustom

Last updated
Rustom
Rustom - 1 UAV.jpg
ADE Rustom-1 UAV
Role Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
National origin India
Design group Aeronautical Development Establishment of DRDO
First flight
  • Rustom-1: 11 November 2009
  • TAPAS-BH-201: 15 November 2016 [1]
Status
  • Rustom-1 UAV (Prototype flight testing)
  • Rustom-H MALE UAV (Under development)
  • TAPAS-BH-201 (Rustom-2) MALE UAV (Prototype flight testing) [2] [3]

The DRDO Rustom (lit: "Warrior") is a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) being developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation for the three services, Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force of the Indian Armed Forces. [4] Rustom is derived from the NAL's LCRA (Light Canard Research Aircraft) developed by a team under the leadership of late Prof Rustom Damania in the 1980s. The UAV will have structural changes and a new engine. [5]

Contents

The Rustom will replace/supplement the Heron UAVs in service with the Indian armed forces. [6]

Design and development

Rustom-1's basic design is derived from the NAL light canard research aircraft (LCRA). The aircraft has been named after Rustom Damania, a former professor of IISc, Bangalore who died in 2001. DRDO decided to name the UAV after him because it is derived from National Aerospace Laboratories' light canard research aircraft (LCRA) developed under Rustom Damania's leadership in the 1980s. [7]

With the Rustom MALE UAV project, DRDO intends to move away from traditional ways of developing products whereby laboratories under DRDO, like the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), which is involved in this project, develop and finalize the product and transfer technology to a production agency. [8]

DRDO will follow a practice of concurrent engineering where initial design efforts also take into consideration production issues, with the production agency participating in the development of the system right from the design stage. The agency will also follow up issues related to infrastructure and expertise for the product and its support, thereby overcoming time delays in crucial projects. [9]

Rustom-1 has a wingspan of 7.9 m (26 ft) [10] and weighs 720 kg (1,590 lb), [10] will be launched by the conventional method and not the launcher as in the case of the DRDO Lakshya. Rustom will be able to see the enemy territory up to a distance of 250 km (160 mi) and carry a variety of cameras and radar for surveillance. [11]

Rustom-H, built on a different design, is a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MALE UAV), a twin engine system designed to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Rustom H will have a payload capacity of 350 kg (770 lb). [8]

The range of advanced technologies and systems include the following: [10]

Variants

There will be three variants of the Rustom UAV. [12]

Current status

Rustom-1 during flight trails Rustom-1 during flight trails.jpg
Rustom-1 during flight trails

The Indian government has allowed the development of the Rustom MALE UAV project in association with a production agency cum development partner (PADP). The ADE officials indicated that the requests for proposals (RFP) would shortly be issued to four vendors which are the Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division, Larsen & Toubro Limited, Godrej Aerospace Limited and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited-Bharat Electronics Limited (joint bid) who were chosen out of the 23 firms that responded.

Currently, negotiations are underway between these companies and the three Indian armed forces since the private majors are looking for support and commitment from them before they start executing any development and production plans. This is because the chosen PADP will also have a financial stake in the Rustom project. The Armed Forces would also be asked to take up a financial stake and the Indian government may have to guarantee that a specific number of Rustom UAVs will be bought. On 09 Nov 21 the project achieved the rare distinction of indigenously developing Automatic Take off and Landing (ATOL) using GAGAN SBAS. On 09 Mar 22 the programme achieved a double digit Endurance clocking 10:20hr surpassing the previous time of 08:05hr which was achieved in 2020. [9] [17]

Rustom-1

The first flight of Rustom-I UAV took place on 16 November 2009 at the Taneja Aerospace Air Field near Hosur. The demonstration resulted in the prototype crashing to the ground. Stated by the DRDO, the taxiing and takeoff was exactly as planned. Due to misjudgment of altitude of the flight, the on-board engine was switched off through ground command which made the on-board thrust developed to go to zero. [18]

Despite the mishap, the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation stated: "The flight proved the functioning of a number of systems such as aerodynamics, redundant flight control, engine and datalink, which go a long way towards the development of a complex UAV."

Rustom-1 UAV prototype Rustom prototype profile.JPG
Rustom-1 UAV prototype

The second "maiden" flight took place on 15 Oct 2010. In this test flight, the UAV flew for 30 minutes at an altitude of 910 m (3,000 ft). The test was conducted in Hosur. [19] The Indian army was impressed with Rustom-1 and will use it as a MALE UAV.

Rustom-1 made its 5th successful flight on morning of 12 November 2011, flying for 25 minutes at 700 m (2,300 ft) AGL at a speed 190 km/h (100 kn). It completed its 8th successful flight on 8 Dec 2011. It flew at an altitude of 1,800 m (6,000 ft) (max) and at a speed of 170 km/h (90 kn) (max) during its 30 minutes flight near Hosur, claims DRDO. The highlight of the flight was that Rustom-1 was test flown with the 'gimbal payload assembly carrying daylight TV & Infra-Red camera for the first time. Good quality pictures were received from the camera in gimbal payload assembly.

The 14th Successful Flight of Rustom-1 was reported on 8 May 2012, with the attainment of about 3,500 m (11,500 ft) above ground level and speed of above 140 km/h (87 mph) during 2 hours 10 minutes of operation. [20]

TAPAS-BH-201

DRDO carried out a successful test flight of TAPAS-BH-201 on 25 February 2018, at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) located in Chalakere, Chitradurga district. This was the first flight of the UAV in user configuration with higher power engine. [21] [22]

During its development trials Rustom 2 crashed near Jodichikkenahalli in Karnataka's Chitradurga district on 17 September 2019. No one was hurt. The UAV was being tested at Challakere Aeronautical Test Range, a DRDO outdoor testing facility. [23] TAPAS-BH-201 completed satellite communication (SATCOM) mode trial and flew with long range electro-optical payload as of 16 August 2020. [24]

In December 2021, Rustom- II had reached an altitude of 25,000 feet and had achieved an endurance of 10 hours. On March 12, 2022, it demonstrated its flight altitude above 27,500 feet with an endurance of 18 hours.

Specifications

Specifications of Rustom-1 and Rustom-H are as follows:

Data fromDefstrat.com, [10] idp.justthe80.com [25] and stargazer2006.online.fr [26]

General characteristics

Performance

24-36 hours (Future solar powered variants) [29]
>24 hr (Rustom 2)

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

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References

  1. ↑ "DRDO: DRDO's combat drone Rustom-2 flies for the first time - Times of India". The Times of India . 16 November 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-11-16. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  2. 1 2 "Tapas has no combat capabilities: DRDO". www.dailypioneer.com. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  3. ↑ "First flight of UAV Rustom-2 scheduled in Feb, 2014". The Economic Times. Feb 22, 2012. Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV Rustom Archived January 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ "Chapter 9 : NAL and Trainers:ACIG". Archived from the original on 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  6. ↑ "India joins select group to develop UCAV technology". The Hindu . 2007-08-27. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  7. ↑ Archived February 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Unmanned: The Future of Air Wars". SP's Aviation. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  9. 1 2 DRDO's Rustom UAV To Roll Out Soon Archived 2010-11-03 at the Wayback Machine . India Defence Online. Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Made in India". South Asia Defence Strategic Review. Archived from the original on 14 May 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  11. ↑ Aero India 2009 News: Rustom to lock horns with Mantis, Herti Archived 2010-01-08 at the Wayback Machine . Indianaviationnews.net. Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  12. 1 2 India Eyes Armed Rustom UAV [ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ Archived 2012-10-08 at the Wayback Machine India plans to develop solar-powered UAVs
  14. 1 2 "India may soon have its own 'Predator drones'". Rediff News. November 15, 2011. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  15. ↑ "ADE Finalizes Rustom-2 UAV Flight, Reveals Future Drone Projects for Defence". Defence Now. February 25, 2012. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  16. ↑ News, Indian Defence (10 October 2020). "DRDO's Rustom-2 drone takes-off, India goes for armed Heron". Defence News, Indian Defence News, IDRW, Indian Armed Forces. Retrieved 2020-10-25.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  17. ↑ "Significant step toward indigenous UAV". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  18. ↑ "Indias-uav-demonstrator-crashes-during-trials". Archived from the original on 2009-11-19. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  19. ↑ News / National : Rustom 1 test-flown Archived 2010-10-22 at the Wayback Machine . The Hindu (2010-10-18). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  20. ↑ http://drdo.gov.in/drdo/English/dpi/press_release/rustum-1_14.pdf Archived 2013-06-06 at the Wayback Machine DRDO Press Release: 14th Successful Flight of RUSTOM-1
  21. ↑ "DRDO Successfully Test Flight Rustom 2". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  22. ↑ "DRDO successfully carries out test flight of indigenous Rustom-2 drone". The Indian Express. 2018-02-25. Archived from the original on 2018-02-25. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  23. ↑ "DRDO unmanned aerial vehicle TAPAS-BH-201 crashes in Karnataka". www.businesstoday.in. 2019-09-17.
  24. ↑ "Reporter Rajnath: When defence minister gave minute-by-minute news breaks on Rafale arrival". OnManorama. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
  25. 1 2 3 4 "Rustom MALE UAV". Indian Defense Projects Sentinel. Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  26. ↑ "DRDO-ADE 'Rustom-I' and 'Rustom-H'". Stargazer. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  27. ↑ "Aero India: the DRDO displayed the Rustom-1 MALE UAV". Russian Unmanned Vehicle Systems Association. 11 March 2011. Archived from the original on 22 November 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  28. ↑ "India Now Wants Hundreds Of UAVs". Aviation Week. May 20, 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  29. ↑ India plans to develop solar-powered UAVs. Ndtv.com (2011-08-21). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
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