..:: India Strategic ::. Army: DRDO Tests Wheeled UAV Panchi on Maiden Flight

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Editorial

DRDO Tests Wheeled UAV Panchi on Maiden Flight

Published: December 2014

New Delhi. India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) claimed another success December 24 when its wheeled UAV 'Panchi' conducted a successful test flight.

DRDO released a video of the takeoff but didn't disclose the location of the test. However, it was stated that the unmanned aircraft can takeoff from and land on small airstrips. Its maiden flight lasted 20 minutes.

Panchi (or bird in Hindi) is a variant of the Nishant which is launched from hydro-pneumatic rails and is already deployed by the Indian Army. The 380 kg Nishant has airvags and a parachute for recovery. But as Panchi will not have them, it will be lighter and capable of higher payloads and range for surveillance. Both the Nishant and Panchi will be used for battlefield surveillance or as required.

According to DRDO spokesman, electro-optic payloads are mounted on a stabilized steerable UAV platforms. A sophisticated image processing system is used for analyzing the images transmitted from the UAV. The aircraft has a jam resistant command link and digital downlink for transmission of imagery.

The air vehicle also has autonomous flight capabilities and is controlled from a user friendly Ground Control Station.

DRDO Chief Dr Avinash Chander congratulated the UAV team while Distinguished Scientist and Director General Aeronautical Systems Dr K Tamilmani observed: “Aggressive efforts by the ADE (Aeronautical Development Establishment) team during the past eight months in creating this version are commendable”.