Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Full configuration flight of Panchi, a variant of Nishant, the unmanned aerial vehicle developed (UAV) by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for military use, is slated for later next year. By October 2016, the test flights with full configuration to assess its capability, are fixed, informed Dr K Tamilmani, Director General (DG Aero) (DRDO), while confirming the development to The Hitavada.
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| DRDO’s Panchi, the wheeled UAV. |
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) systems are undergoing major upgrades in terms of data link, flight control and propulsion system to enhance the flight envelop, the DG explained further. Panchi is the wheeled version of UAV Nishant and is capable of taking-off and landing by using small airstrips, which will be a major advantage for field units.
Panchi UAV has autonomous flight capabilities and is controlled from a user friendly Ground Control Station (GCS). GCS incorporates a microprocessor bases encoder/decoder unit which interface with the jam-resistant data link to exchange command and data from the UAV. Panchi is capable of conventional take off and landing. Concept validation phase of the UAV has completed through number of test flights, the DG (Aero) said in reply to another querry.
Panchi has all the surveillance capabilities of UAV Nishant. Post upgradation the UAV can endure longer flight duration as it would not have to carry the air bags and parachute system which is the case with Nishant. Maiden test flight of Panchi was carried at Kolar test facility in Karnataka in December 2014.
The aircraft also has a jam resistant command link and digital down link for transmission of imagery. While its length is about 4.63 meter and wingspan 6.57 meter, it weighs around 380 kg. Traveling at a maximum speed of 185 km/hour, it can cruise at a speed of 125 km/hour to 150 km/hour with a service ceiling of 3,600 meter.
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