Tejas LSP-5 ready for first flight

India’s fifth limited-series production (LSP-5) Tejas Light Combat Aircraft is ready for its first flight. Indian sources confirm to AVIATION WEEK that a flight readiness review meeting was held recently and the LSP-5 will fly “soon,” weather permitting. LSP-4 had its first flight in June.

“Two more high-speed taxi trials are remaining and after that we will be ready for the first flight,” says a senior official associated with the program. “It will have internal cockpit lighting for enabling night flying, with all corrections being done. We are also testing a new communication set, similar to that on the Dhruv chopper. This would again ensure commonality of inventory in the country.”

 

By-Youngster (Weapon and Technology)

Army to get unmanned ground vehicles

Bharat Rakshak (The Hindu)

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is preparing a road map for induction of unmanned ground vehicles into the Army, S. Sundaresh, Chief Controller Research and Development, Armament and Combat Engineering, DRDO, said. 

Inaugurating the “Driving Innovation - DRDO Student Robot Competition 2010” at the Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) at Avadi near here, Mr. Sundaresh said the Army had agreed to induct 20 Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), developed by the DRDO's R&D establishment in Pune. 

Daksh, the ROV, would locate, handle and destroy hazardous objects safely. Designed to operate remotely from a range of 500 metres, it was capable of handling improvised explosive devices. 

Another version to monitor the contamination level in a Nuclear Biological Chemical-affected environment through its Radiation Measurement and Automatic Control Unit and Portable Gas Chromatograph was ready and the Army had to come up with its requirement, he said. 

DRDO officials held a meeting with the Army's Director-General (Perspective Planning) a few weeks ago and the road map for induction of unmanned ground vehicles would be ready in the next few months.

About 240 colleges had applied for the student robot competition and 14 teams were selected for the finals.

 

Netra demonstration

 

A demonstration of Netra, a fully autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), designed for anti-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations was held. “It can be deployed 1.5 km away. Flying at a height of 200 metres, it could send live video to the base. Four high-speed propellers allow the vertical take-off and landing of the portable Netra, which was expected be ready for induction into the Army by year-end,” said Alok Mukherjee, chief designer.

Nishant UAV tests breakthrough technology

The DRDO has successfully test flown the indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Nishant, which was used to try out the breakthrough technology of monitoring the UAV's health in-flight. 

The trial was held yesterday at the Kolar airfield by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the country's premier defence R&D agency. 

The DRDO said in a press note here that the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a laboratory under it, had used the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technology developed by it along with the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), a CSIR establishment. 

"The SHM monitors the structural health parameters online while the UAV is in flight and help take corrective action.
 

This enables the UAV to be flown without unnecessarily grounding them for inspection," the release added. 

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