LOC23:20
20:20 GMT
NEW DELHI, May 3 (KUNA) -- Indian defense authorities said on Saturday that maiden flight-trials of Stratospheric Airship Platform was carried out successfully.
Indian Defence Ministry said in a statement that the Defence Research and Development Organization successfully carried out maiden flight-trials of Stratospheric Airship Platform from Sheopur Trial site in Madhya Pradesh.
The airship, developed by Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, Agra, was launched carrying an instrumental payload to an altitude of around 17 kms and total duration of the flight was about 62 minutes.
"Data from onboard sensors was received and would be utilized for development of high-quality fidelity simulation models for future high-altitude airship flights," the statement said.
Chairman of DRDO Dr Samir V Kamat congratulated the team involved in design, development and trial of the system.
"The prototype flight is a milestone towards realization of lighter-than-air high-altitude platform systems that can remain airborne for very long endurance at stratospheric heights," he said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the successful maiden flight-trial of the system saying this will uniquely enhance India's earth observation and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
With the successful flight-trials of the stratospheric airship platform, India will join one of the few countries in the world having such indigenous capabilities. (end)
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