UAV Nishant's flight is successful

Nishant, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a lab owned by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has made a successful flight. The 30th flight was conducted at ADE on February 1 at 11.25 am.

It said, the aircraft took off from the launcher at Kolar airfield and was recovered after 3 hours and 35 minutes at the designated point. "All systems worked normally and the mission was totally successful," the DRDO said in a statement on Wednesday.

During the test flight on the 29th of last month, the same UAV had made a soft-landing as owing to an onboard malfunction, after overflying a path of five km from the designated point. The aircraft was recovered intact with very little damage, said DRDO.

The 380 kg Nishant UAV has been been designed to help in gathering intelligence over enemy territory, apart from surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction and damage assessment.