Demonstrating a technological feat, the Indian Navy and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have successfully carried out command and control capabilities of Tapas UAV from a distant ground station to onboard INS Subhadra.
The DRDO developed TAPAS took off at 7.35 am on Friday from Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, which is 285 km away from Karwar naval base. One Ground Control station (GCS) and two Ship Data Terminal (SDT) were installed in INS Subhadra for controlling the UAV, the DRDO said.
Also read: DRDO, Navy conduct trial for underground storage of ammunitions
It flew at an altitude of 20,000 feet above sea level and completed three-hour and 30-minute flight, with the INS Subhadra assuming control of the operations for 40 minutes, said the DRDO in a tweet.
After the trial, Tapas landed back at the ATR, completing the demo successfully. Tapas is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle which was at public display at the DRDO hall and undertook its first flight at Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru earlier 2023. It has an endurance of more than 18 hours and can operate at altitudes of up to 28,000 feet. The DRDO looks to fulfil the ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Tracking, and Reconnaissance) requirements of the tri-services of Army, Air Force and Navy.
Tapas is described as the Indian version of the US Predator drones and can carry a variety of payloads depending on different ISTAR need.