In news
Recently, the handing over ceremony of Retractable Landing Gear system for Tapas, 18 types of filters for P-75 Submarine and SWIFT drones held at DRDO lab in Chennai
About Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon-201 or TAPAS BH-201(Rustom-II)
- TAPAS-BH is a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV with an operating altitude of 30000 ft, endurance of 24 hrs and a range of 250 kms.
- It is a long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which used to be previously referred as Rustom-II, being developed by India on the lines of the American Predator drones
- After its first flight in 2016, it was renamed from Rustom-II to TAPAS-BH-201
- TAPAS-BH-201 had a successful maiden flight on 16 November 2016 at Challakere, 200 km away from Bengaluru in the district of Chitradurga in south Indian state of Karnataka.
- It can carry a variety of payloads up to a maximum of 350 kgs. Rustom-2 is a platform designed to perform Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance missions for Indian Armed Forces.
- Its mission requirements are to provide continuous wide area coverage and yet be able to identify small targets.
- Rustom-II is comparable in the same class as IAI’s HERON.
SWiFT
A technology demonstrator called Stealth Wing Flying Testbed (SWiFT) is being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. It is intended to develop the technologies required in the final Ghatak UCAV. A prototype of the SWIFT is expected to be flight-tested by 2021 with a NPO Saturn 36MT turbofan engine.
P-75 Submarine
- The Project 75I-class submarine is a follow-on of the Project 75 Kalvari-class submarine for the Indian Navy.
- Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire six diesel-electric submarines, which will also feature advanced air-independent propulsion systems to enable them to stay submerged for longer duration and substantially increase their operational range.
- All six submarines are expected to be constructed in Indian shipyards.
Source: ANI & DRDO
