File Photo of ABHYAS being test flown from the Chitradurga Aeronautical Test Range, Karnataka

India has successfully conducted the flight test of ABHYAS, the High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (or HEAT) vehicles

Capable of fully-autonomous flight, ABHYAS runs on a indigenously developed gas turbine engine. Its inertial navigation uses micro-electromechanical systems, and guidance and control are managed by a flight control computer. ABHYAS is a High-speed Expendable Aerial Target which provides a realistic threat scenario for practising weapon systems. Though technically classified as a drone used as an aerial target, it can be used for other purposes. ABHYAS has been developed and designed by the DRDO’s Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment wing.

The trial, on Tuesday, was carried out from the Integrated Test Range near Chandipur in Odisha by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and tracked by radars and electro-optic equipment.

Congratulating the DRDO, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted: “The DRDO achieved a milestone today with the successful flight test of ABHYAS - High Speed Expandable Aerial Target from ITR Balasore. This can be used as a target for evaluation of various Missile systems.”

As part of Tuesday’s trial, two demonstrator vehicles were test-flown successfully.

ABHYAS has been developed and designed by the DRDO’s Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) wing. It has been under development for nine years, and this was the second successful test flight.

ABHYAS – Not Just An Aerial Target UAV


ABHYAS is a High-speed Expendable Aerial Target that provides a realistic threat scenario for practising weapon systems. It has been designed to fly with the aid of an autopilot, and comes with state-of-the-art RCS, Visual and IR augmentation systems needed for weapon practice.

It was first successfully flight tested in May last year.

But with Tuesday’s tests, it has cleared all parameters of evaluation.

The DRDO said the test vehicle had met the user requirement of 5 km flying altitude, vehicle speed of 0.5 Mach [half the speed of sound], endurance of 30 minutes and 2G turn capability of the test vehicle were successfully achieved.

Capable of fully-autonomous flight, ABHYAS has an indigenously developed gas turbine engine. Its inertial navigation tech uses micro-electromechanical systems, while guidance and control are managed by a flight control computer.

Its fuselage includes the nose cone, fuel tank bay, equipment section, air intake compartment and tail cone. The material for the nose and tail cones are made up of composite material (GFRP), whereas the material of the equipment bay, air intake bay and fuel tank are made up of an aluminium steel alloy. The ABHYAS drone has a dedicated box for its transportation and storage made of EPE (Expanded Polyethylene) and with an XLPE (Cross-linked polyethylene) foam material inside. It is weather proof, drop and vibration proof and static load-tested. 

ABHYAS is GPS-enabled, has an on-board flight control computer and a miss-distance indicator. It is also designed for autonomous flight with the help of an autopilot.

Its main purpose is to bolster the country’s air-defence mechanism by imitating enemy fighter aircraft. ABHYAS is believed to have a range of 400 km.