RUSTOM 1 ( UAV )

The indigenously designed and developed RUSTOM-1 made it  flying at about 11,500 ft AGL and speed of above 140-km/h during 2 hrs 10 minutes of cruise.

The highlights of the flight include:-

 a) Use of lean mixture control system in the engine for flights at high altitudes.

 b) Take-off weight heaviest so far.

 c) Achieved max altitude of 3.5 kms, about 11500 ft and

 d) Extended range of about 50 kms tried out for the first time. The waypoint track was perfect and so were takeoff and landing.

The Rustom-1 is built for a maximum altitude of 22,000 ft and endurance of 12-15 Hours with an operating range of 250 Kms when fully developed.

Indian Army has shown keen interest  in  this  programme. This UAV has the potential military missions like Reconnaissance and Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Target Designation, Communications Relay, Battle Damage Assessment and Signal Intelligence, the release said.

This UAV can attain a maximum speed of 150 Knots, 22,000 ft of altitude and endurance of 12-15 hours with an operating range of 250 kms when fully developed. 

Rustom-1's basic design is derived from the NAL light canard research aircraft (LCRA). The aircraft has been named after Rustom Damania, a former professor of IISc, Bangalore who died in 2001. DRDO decided to name the UAV after him because it is derived from National Aerospace Laboratories' light canard research aircraft (LCRA) developed under Rustom Damania’s leadership in the 1980s

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Rustom 1 is a medium altitude long endurance unmanned air vehicle (MALE UAV) program. This is a multi mission long endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with day/night capability used for battlefield surveillance and reconnaissance, target tracking & localization, and artillery fire correction, SAR images taking facility with take off & landing on runway with external pilot (EP). This UAV will take off from conventional runway with the help of EP.  With the Rustom MALE UAV project, DRDO intends to move away from traditional ways of developing products whereby laboratories under DRDO, like the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), which is involved in this project, develop and finalise the product and transfer technology to a production agency.

DRDO will follow a practice of concurrent engineering where initial design efforts also take into consideration production issues, with the production agency participating in the development of the system right from the design stage. The agency will also follow up issues related to infrastructure and expertise for the product and its support, thereby overcoming time delays in crucial projects.

Rustom-1 which bears an uncanny resemblance to Rutan Long-EZ designed by Burt Rutan has a wingspan of 7.9 metres and weighs 720 kg, will be launched by the conventional method and not the launcher as in the case of the DRDO Lakshya. Rustom will be able to see the enemy territory up to a distance of 250 km and carry a variety of cameras and radar for surveillance.

Rustom-H, built on a different design, owes nothing to Burt Rutan's Long-EZ design. It is a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MALE UAV), a twin engine system designed to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Rustom H will have a payload capacity of 350 kg.

The range of advanced technologies and systems include the following:

Ø  Aerodynamic configurations, High aspect ratio wing, Composite airframe integrated with propulsion system, De-icing system for wings

Ø  Highly reliable systems with built-in redundancy for flight critical systems like flight control and navigation, data links, power management, - and mission critical payload management system

Ø  Digital Flight Control and Navigation System, Automatic Take off and Landing (ATOL)

Ø  Digital communication technologies for realizing data links to control and operate the mission and relay UAVs

Ø  Payloads with high resolution and precision stabilized platforms.