The UAV has been designed and developed by a Bengaluru-based company Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE).
He said that for the first time in aeronautical TAPAS was demonstrated in front of the Tri Services team. test range In chitradurgaAbout 200 km from Bengaluru on June 27, the DRDO said on Wednesday: “Tapas UAV’s 200th flight was demonstrated for the first time to Tricewa team.” ATR Chitradurga, The team appreciated the indigenous efforts for the development of UAVs. Tapas is now ready for user evaluation trials.”
The Tapas-201 is a multi-mission UAV that can perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance roles for all the three armed forces. Its endurance is 24-30 hours.
As TOI reported earlier, the DRDO and the Indian Navy had successfully demonstrated the transfer of command and control capabilities of a UAV from a distant ground station to INS Subhadra, 148 km from the Karwar naval base on June 16.
According to DRDO, TAPAS has an operational altitude of 30,000 feet, an endurance of over 24 hours with Earth observation and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) payloads, and a range of over 250 km.
It is capable of carrying a variety of payloads up to a maximum of 350 kg and its mission requirements are to provide continuous wide area coverage and still be able to identify small targets. DRDO had earlier said, “It is comparable in the same range to the Israeli Heron UAV.”
TAPAS can carry various combinations of payloads like medium range electro optic, long range electro optic, SAR, electronic intelligence, communication intelligence and situational awareness payloads and can operate during both day and night.
The vehicle was earlier called Rustom and DRDO expects customers outside the three services to also use the UAV. State police forces, paramilitary forces and the Coast Guard are considered as potential customers.