India conducts second successful test-flight of Lakshya-II

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Jan 27, IRNA -- Two days after a successful trial, advanced version of pilotless target aircraft (PTA) Lakshya-II was again successfully flight-tested at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) near Balasore in Odisha state Friday.

The 11th demonstration flight was held from a mobile vehicle at launch complex-3 of the ITR, about 15 kilometers from Balasore.

A similar trial had been conducted on Wednesday. The entire flight was pre-programed and was totally successful,' the PTI reported, quoting defense sources.

Lakshya-II flew at sea skimming height of about 15 metres. 'In a flight lasting over 30 minutes, it was made to dive down from an altitude of around 800 merters to just 12 meters and maintained the requisite altitude for the specified time before demonstrating auto climb-out,' they said.

It demonstrated various technologies and sub-systems to prevent loss of mission, engaging and flying in way point navigation mode while carrying tow targets.

During the flight, one of the tow targets was released and the other was deployed while way point navigation was on. Lakshya-II has been designed and developed by Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment, a premier DRDO lab specialising in UAVs and flight control systems, they said.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30783408