Tapas in user configuration has a long road ahead
Delayed by over five years, and even seemingly confused over whether to call it Tapas or Rustom II, the Indian Defence Research Development Organisation’s (DRDO) MALE UAV remains an enigma.
On 25 February, a brief MoD statement said, ‘DRDO successfully flew Rustom II at its Aeronautical Test Range…This flight assumes significance due to the fact that this is the first flight in user configuration with higher power engine.’
While the DRDO said the test flight was ‘successful’ and all parameters were ‘normal’, there was no mention of whether earlier overweight issues were solved. The DRDO was looking to reduce its
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