- Rustom 1, a medium-altitude and long-endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), developed by the Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), was successfully test-flown.
- The aircraft took off even in inclement weather conditions for a first flight, flew for 12 minutes and landed successfully, meeting all its objectives
- Rustom 1 followed the two other UAVs developed by the ADE — Lakshya and Nishant. While Lakshya — a drone that is remotely piloted by a ground control station — provides aerial sub-targets for live-fire training, Nishant is a surveillance aircraft primarily tasked with intelligence gathering over enemy territory.
- Unlike the other UAVs, which used to have a free fall with parachutes after executing their tasks, Rustom will carry out copybook style landing.
- The aircraft has many auto features such as GPS controlled Way Point Navigation and Get U Home included even in its first flight, but will be exercised in subsequent flights.
- The UAV has an endurance of 12 to 15 hours and can carry payloads up to 75 kg. It has an altitude ceiling of 25,000 feet. Such flights of UAVs remove the risk to human pilots when they have to fly them in hazardous zones
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