India reports a successful first flight for its indigenous Rustom-II medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), an aerial drone roughly the equivalent of the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator operated by the U.S. Air Force and the CIA.

India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) said the flight the Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga in the southern state of Karnataka accomplished the main objectives of proving Rustom-11's capabilities, including take-off, banking and level flight.

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With an endurance of 24 hours, Rustom-11 was developed to carry out persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) for the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. The armed services plan to first use Rustom-II for reconnaissance and surveillance, target acquisition, target designation, communications relay, battle damage assessment and signal intelligence.

Future iterations of Rustom-11, however, will see the drone armed with air-to-ground missiles and smart bombs, taking on a role mostly associated with the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer drone employed by the U.S. in its war on terror worldwide.

Once fully operational, Rustom-II will replace the Israeli Heron UAVs used by the Indian Air Force and Navy.

Rustom-11 can carry different payload combinations such as Medium Range Electro Optic (MREO); Long Range Electro Optic (LREO); Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR); Electronic Intelligence (ELINT); Communication Intelligence (COMINT) and Situational Awareness Payloads (SAP) to perform missions during day and night.

DRDO said Rustom-II will need at least a dozen successful flight trials before it enters operational service with the Indian Armed Forces. Succeeding trials will validate the UAV's design parameters, before going for user validation trials.

Last week's flight test covered less than 100 kilometers. Rustom-II weighs 1,600 kg and can loft a payload of 350 kilograms.

Rustom-II is named after former Indian Institute of Science professor Rustom Damania, who pioneered aviation research in the 1980s.

Problems associated with the heavy weight of Rustom-11 have pushed back production schedules so that production has been delayed from 2016 to 2018 at the earliest.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics Ltd are partnering DRDO in the development of Rustom-II.

TagsRustom-II, medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, India, Defense Research and Development Organization, General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, Heron UAV