Pilotless Target Aircraft, Lakshya-2 Successfully Tested

Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a unit of Defence Research and Development Organisation on 21 December 2010 successfully conducted the flight test of Lakshya-2, the Pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA). The test was conducted from the integrated test range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea in Orissa’s Balasore district. Lakshya-2 was launched by a solid propellant rocket motor, and sustained by a turbojet engine in flight. The requirement was to fly the pilot-less target aircraft at very low altitudes (15 to 25 metres above sea level) to simulate trajectory of low-level cruise missiles.

Lakshya-2 was prepared by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore with necessary hardware and software for meeting the user requirements. It has radar, IR and visual signature augmentation. Lakshya-2 was built to meet anticipated user requirements for such a vehicle for testing out their guns and missiles. Lakshya- 2 can be launched from land or ship and be recovered by a parachute system safely on land or sea. The pilotless control and real time acquisition is made possible by  Lakshya’s Ground control station and telemetry station. The flight test that was concluded in 32 minutes was controlled by Ground Control Station and the low altitude flight was proved over 10 km range. The use of the mobile launcher needed to launch the PTA from anywhere and GPS to locate for recovery was successful. The pilotless aircraft also demonstrated its manoeuvring capability simultaneously simulating manoeuvring attacking aircrafts. The system has been designed so that two Lakshya targets can be flown and controlled by the Common Ground Control Station.