India’s DRDO Flight Tests Rustom 2 UAV With Higher Power Engine

India on Sunday successfully flight tested an indigenously-built Rustom 2 drone, a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), carried out at Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Karnataka's Chitradurga district, South India.

Rustom 2 is part of the Rustom line of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that includes Rustom-I, Rustom-H and Rustom-C.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said the test flight was "successful" and all its parameters were "normal", PTI reports.

"DRDO successfully flew its Rustom 2 today at its Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) at Chalakere at Chitradurga. This flight assumes significance due to the fact that this is the first flight in user configuration with higher power engine," a statement read. 

Rustom 2 is capable of carrying different combinations of payloads like synthetic aperture radar, electronic intelligence systems and situational awareness payloads, officials said. 

The INR 1,500-crore UAV project was initiated considering requirement of the the Army, Navy and Air Force. 

The UAV has been designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the DRDO, and aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics are its production partners.