First fl ight of Rustom-2 is scheduled for Feb-2014

BANGALORE: The fi rst fl ight of indigenously built Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Rustom-2 is planned for February 2014, Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) Director P S Krishnan said today. Talking to newsmen here, he said ‘’designing part has been completed and purchase orders have been placed and we are on schedule to take off in February 2014.’’ Replying to a question, he said ‘’manufacturing of ten plus fi ve spare Rustom-2 vehicles would be completed by August-2017. The total cost of the project is Rs 1,540 crore and by indigenous technology we are saving about 40 per cent of the cost.’’ ‘’The Rustom-2, designed and developed by ADE, a DRDO laboratory, is comparable to top drones in the world. Besides Rustom-2, solar-powered drones as well as unmanned aerial combat vehicles are also on the anvil,’’ he added. He said Rustom-2, weighing 1.8 tonnes, would have payloads such as synthetic aperture radar, maritime patrol radar and collision avoidance system among other things. Rustom-2 would have a wing-span of 21-odd metres and an endurance of 24-hours-plus. The recently tested Rustom-1 had only about seven metres and 12- 15 hours of endurance. Krishnan said with advanced capabilities and additional payloads, the Rustom- 2 is comparable to the American ‘Predator’ drones. Stating that Rustom-2 is manufactured solely for Defence purpose, he said Indian Army is keenly watching the developments and looking forward to the Rustom-2. Rustom UAVs could be deployed for military missions like reconnaissance and surveillance, target acquisition, target designation, communications relay, battle damage assessment and signal intelligence. India will also be developing unmanned aerial combat vehicles (UCAVs) as well as solar drones in the near future, he added.