Balsore/New Delhi: It was a day of mixed results for India as it successfully test-fired the Brahmos land attack supersonic cruise missile in the Bay of Bengal, but pilotless target aircraft, Lakshya, crashed in a paddy field in Odisha’s Balasore district.
In what is seen as temporary setback to India’s effort to achieve rapid progress in development of Unmarried Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and their optimum use by the Army for self-defence — Lakshya, an advanced UAV, — on Friday crash-landed in a farmland in Odisha’s Balasore district.
According to reports, a few minutes after its flying in the morning, the UAV of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed on a patch of agricultural field at Chandamani near Baliapal. However, no loss of life and property was reported in the incident, said Balsore superintendent of police Niti Shekhar.
Though the exact reason behind the crash was not immediately known, it was suspected that the UAV crashed due to some technical glitches during its routine sortie.
Developed by the Defence Research and Devel-opment Organisation (DRDO), the Lakshya is a Pilotless Target Aircraft or PTA that acts as a reusable aerial target system.
People gather near the missile Lakshya, that crashed near Baliapal in Balasore district on Friday. (Photo: PTI)
A team from the Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal would come to the accident site to collect debris and investigate the incident, the DRDO official said.
Policemen cordoned off the site in Chandmani village as per instructions from senior officers, Baliapal inspector-in- charge Surendra Beuria said. PTA ‘Lakshya’ is a reusable aerial target system. It is operated with the help of a remote from the ground to provide aerial target for training of pilots of all three services.
The PTAs entered service in November 2000 at the Interim Test Range, Chandipur. Meanwhile, Indian Navy successfully test-fired the Brahmos land attack supersonic cruise missile in the Bay of Bengal, joining an elite club of navies to have capability to strike on land targets from sea.
The long-range missile was fired from guided missile frigate Teg on a target on land and it yielded desired results.
The BrahMos Missile has been jointly developed by India and Russia, and its anti-ship variant has already been inducted into Indian Navy.
“This successful maiden firing of BrahMos Land Attack Supersonic Cruise Missile has significantly enhances the prowess of Navy,” Navy spokesperson Captain D.K. Sharma told reporters here.
