HAL demonstrates 10-kg helicopter UAV

State-owned aviation major, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, successfully demonstrated the flight of a 10-kg Rotary Wing (Helicopter) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (RUAV) here in the presence of its Board of Directors recently.

The RUAV is equipped with a two-stroke petrol engine, twin-blade main rotor and tail rotor. It has a payload of 2.5 kg, featuring a live stream video camera. The vehicle has a range of 8-10 km, with an endurance of one hour.

The flight lasted for about 10 minutes during which the Attitude Control Attitude Hold (ACAH) mode, Position Control, Position Hold mode (autonomous hover), low-speed flight in forward, backward and sideward directions were demonstrated.

The video feed from onboard the helicopter was streamed live and shown on the dedicated video receiver. The status of the helicopter, its parameters and its real-time position on the map were also shown.

To achieve self-reliance in the aviation field and to enhance its R&D efforts, the HAL is working closely with premier educational institutes and has established chairs at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) (Madras, Roorkee, Kharagpur, Bombay, Kanpur) and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. The RUAV is developed in association with IIT Kanpur and is the first outcome of the HAL's tie-ups with academia.

With this demo, the HAL's Rotary Wing R&D Centre (RWR&DC) is well poised to employ its skills and capabilities to undertake the development of Rotary UAVs of higher weight classes and weapons as payloads, said the HAL Chairman and Managing Director, T Suvarna Raju.