Lakshya Aircraft:
Aeronautical Development Establishment, a Bengaluru-based DRDO lab that developed the Lakshya aircraft, has been visited by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
- Lakshya Aircraft is an indigenously developed micro-light and pilot-less target aircraft.
- It designed and built by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a subsidiary of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), for the Indian Armed Forces.
- The Lakshya was inducted into the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, and Indian Army in 2000, 2001, and 2003, respectively.
- It is a cost-effective re-usable high subsonic aerial target system powered by a gas turbine engine.
- The engine is designed and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bangalore. It is required for evaluation and development trials of new surface-to-air and air-to-air weapon systems.
- It carries two tow targets of tow lengths of 1.5 km each, having radar, IR or visual signature augmentation, and a Miss Distance Indication Scoring System.
- These tow targets are used for training of land- or ship-based gun and missile crew and combat aircraft pilots in weapon engagement.
- It was designed to launch either from land or sea through a zero-length launcher and be recovered by a dual stage parachute system.
- The Lakshya can be controlled from the ground control station (GCS) through pre-programmed hardware and software systems.
- Designed to be reused for 15 missions, the aircraft can spiflicate airborne incoming enemy targets.
