PHOTO: India’s Rustom-1 UAV Flight On October 16


Photo Courtesy DRDO

9 thoughts on “PHOTO: India’s Rustom-1 UAV Flight On October 16”

  1. This is RUSTOM UAV.what about AURA?? and where do LAKSHYA and NISHANT stand in the whole picture???plz enlighten me shiv…

  2. check this!!!www.mikrokopter.de. The hexacopter is available for 1200 euros .it has every thing for way point navigation. no big deal!!!!its similar to netra !!!!endless PDRs and CDRs will only end up in one prototype and few young scientist awards!!!! Nishant is running for ages!!! PTA Lakshya gone with the wind!!!!

  3. This is a wonderful a/c , the concept originaly designed by burt rutan.
    Similar to Long EZ
    What they should do is certify it for civilian microlight or LSA category so that the cost comes down .In its time it held many records. Unfortunately they are not sold any more in the US . Its success can be gauged that it was copied in the US by many manufacturers

  4. The concept is wonderful and was a far ahead of its time when Burt Rutan designed it .It held many records at that time. What should be done is it could be certified for civilian use in the LSA or microlight category to bring the cost down . In the video my heart skipped a beat as it started rolling to the right while take off and veered to the left on landing !
    I hope the operator is more careful.

  5. Is this the same we saw in aero india that design was huge resembling more that of predator but this when was lookin alike seacher.

  6. No, what we saw in aero india is a mock up of a very large rustom uav nearly as big as a predator A . The aero dynamics and the flight control laws will be different as this one has a canard and the fin is at the tips of the wings etc . The specifications of burt Rutan`s
    Long ez – is that it was a 2 seater microlight plane and with a fuel tank instead of the rear passenger its range was nearly 7000km!. I have seen a similar looking ac flying during the initial aero india shows in the 80`s which could be the long EZ from which this was derived. There is one example in india owned by a ex commercial pilot pavan kaula who resides in conoor in ooty. Incidentaly zephyr is the firm which built the airframe of this uav .Pavan owns this firm .He has the credit of assembling the first and only Long ez in India by himself and getting it certified by the DGCA , a feat no one has done. He flies it to Srilanka , Jaipur etc he usually flies out of coimbatore .
    What we have achieved is proving the flight control , data links, electronics etc ,there are many more miles stones to be overcome before it becomes an operational uav.
    The basic design seems sound as the specs are ,altitude 35,000, speed 250 kmh approx, endurance 12 hrs +, range 7000km+, fuel capacity 200 liters, all these were proved in a manned ac , shouldnt be a problem in a uav.

  7. I remember spotting a similar flight in coimbatore when i was doing by degree. It was way back in 2007 or before. Is there any other pilot operated plane in the same shape?

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