The indigenously developed TAPAS 201 UAV has achieved a major milestone as the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy have successfully demonstrated transferring of command and control capabilities of the UAV from a distant ground station to onboard INS Subhadra.
The DRDO and Indian Navy successfully demonstrated transferring of command and control capabilities of TAPAS UAV from a distant ground station to onboard INS Subhadra, 148km from Karwar Naval Base.
The demonstration took place on June 16 and according to DRDO the TAPAS took off at 7.35 a.m. from Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga which is 285 km from Karwar Naval Base.
“TAPAS took off at 07.35hrs from Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga which is 285 km from Karwar naval base. One Ground Control station (GCS) and two Ship Data Terminal (SDT) were installed in INS Subhadra for controlling the UAV. After trial TAPAS landed back at ATR.
The UAV was seamlessly flying around an altitude of 20,000ft (ASML). INS Subhadra controlled UAV operations for 40min during its 3.30hrs flight duration,” DRDO tweeted on Sunday.
The indigenously developed TAPAS 201 Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV has been designed and developed by the Bengaluru based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE)
TAPAS 201, a multi-mission UAV is being developed to carry out the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance roles for the three Armed Forces with an endurance of 24 to 30 hours.
Dubbed the Indian version of the U.S.’ Predator drones, TAPAS 201 is capable to carry different combinations of payloads like Medium Range Electro Optic, Long Range Electro Optic, Synthetic Aperture Radar, Electronic Intelligence, Communication Intelligence and Situational Awareness Payloads to perform missions during day and night. The MALE UAV was earlier referred to as RUSTOM.
