Visakhapatnam, May 4 (UNI) Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out maiden flight-trials of Stratospheric Airship Platform from Sheopur Trial site in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

Developed by Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, Agra, the airship was launched carrying an instrumental payload to an altitude of around 17 kms on Saturday, a Defence release said here.

Data from onboard sensors was received and would be utilised for development of high-quality fidelity simulation models for future high-altitude airship flights. Envelop pressure control and emergency deflation systems were deployed in flight for their performance evaluation. Trial team recovered the system for further investigation.

The total duration of the flight was about 62 minutes. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful maiden flight-trial of the system.

He stated that this system will uniquely enhance India’s earth observation and Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance capabilities, making the country one of the few countries in the world having such indigenous capabilities.

Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO, Dr Samir V Kamat congratulated the DRDO team involved in design, development and trial of the system.

He said the prototype flight is a milestone towards realisation of lighter-than-air high-altitude platform systems that can remain airborne for very long endurance at stratospheric heights.

UNI KNR SS