Flight Lasted About 10 Minutes Showing Multiple Capabilities

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has demonstrated a 22-pound rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV) in the presence of its board of directors.

The RUAV features a 2-stroke gasoline engine; twin blade main rotor and tail rotor; payload capability of 5.5 pounds, including live stream video camera; and range of the vehicle is 4.8 to 5.3 nautical miles with an endurance of one hour.

The demonstration flight lasted for about 10 minutes during which the attitude control attitude hold (ACAH) mode, position control, position hold mode (autonomous hover), and low speed flight in forward, backward and sideward directions, were demonstrated. The video feed from onboard the helicopter was streamed live and shown on the dedicated video receiver. The status of the helicopter, its parameters and its real-time position on the map were also shown.

To achieve self reliance in the aviation field and to enhance its R&D efforts, HAL is working closely with premier educational institutes and has established chairs at IITs (Madras, Roorkee, Kharagpur, Bombay, Kanpur) and IISc Bengaluru.  The RUAV is developed in association with IIT Kanpur and is the first outcome of HAL’s tie-ups with academia.

With this demo, HAL’s Rotary-Wing R&D Center (RWR&DC) is well poised to employ its skills and capabilities to undertake development of rotary UAVs of higher weight classes and weapons as payloads. The success is the testimony of the Industry-academia collaboration, said T. Suvarna Raju, CMD-HAL

(Image provided with HAL news release)

FMI: hal-india.co.in