Some aerospace development news from India

Here are 2 interesting news items.

UAV designed by PEC for SASE test-flown

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030107/chd3.jpg

Taking up a “highly classified” defence project, the Punjab Engineering College (PEC) here has designed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for use by the Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE). The UAV has been test-flown successfully and is stated to be undergoing user trials in high-altitude areas.

According to the head of the PEC’s Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Dr S.C. Sharma, the UAV is designed to ascertain snow accumulation patterns in remote and inaccessible areas. Information gathered through the UAV would be used to assess the snow cover, locate safe routes for troop movement, search of objects buried in snow and mark out hazardous areas like crevises.

Headquartered in Chandigarh, the SASE, a laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, has been given the task to provide advance weather forecasts and avalanche warnings to troops deployed in high-altitude areas along the Line of Control. It is also engaged in carrying out terrain studies and generating maps of hazardous areas. The SASE’s tasks assume significance in the light to the Army’s increased commitment in the Kargil Sector, known for its treacherous terrain.

This is the first-ever defence project undertaken by PEC’s Aeronautical Department. Dr Sharma, who was the only aeronautical engineer on the 10-man team involved in designing and fabricating the UAV, said the aircraft could also have a lot of applications in the civilian sector. While designing and theoretical work concerning the airframe was done in Chandigarh, trials were carried out in Pune.

The project, which till recently had been kept under wraps even within the DRDO, was started under the directions of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam about three years ago, when he was holding the portfolio Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. This possibly explained why flight trails were done in Pune rather than in Bangalore, which is the country’s aeronautical hub. Also, no aeronautical engineer from the DRDO was involved.

With its airframe fabricated from fibre reinforced plastic, the UAV weighs around 60 kg and is packed with sophisticated electronics and high-resolution cameras, besides a telemetry link to transmit images back to controllers in real time.

URL: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030107/cth1.htm