India army to soon get its first drone aircraft

The Indian Army will soon receive its first micro-light, pilot-less target aircraft, Lakshya- 1, which has been produced by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) months ahead of schedule, a top official said Saturday. "The aircraft has been delivered ahead of schedule in record 15 months against 24 months of normal manufacturing cycle time," HAL chairman R.K. Tyagi, told the media in the southern city of Bengaluru. HAL has so far produced 39 such aircraft originally designed by the state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization. The drone was successfully test flown from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore in the eastern state of Odisha last year. Lakshya-1 can be remotely piloted by a ground control station. It provides realistic towed aerial sub-targets for live fire training. The drone is ground or ship launched from a zero length launcher and recovery is by a two-stage parachute system for land or sea based recovery.