The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out maiden flight-trials of its Stratospheric Airship Platform from Sheopur Trial site at Madhya Pradesh yesterday.

Developed by Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment at Agra in Uttar Pradesh, the airship was launched carrying an instrumental payload to an altitude of around 17 kilometers.

The data from onboard sensors was received and will be utilised for development of high-quality fidelity simulation models for future high-altitude airship flights.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh has congratulated the DRDO for the successful maiden flight-trial of the system. He stated that this system will uniquely enhance India’s earth observation and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities.

The Minister added that this airship will also make the country one of the few countries in the world having such indigenous capabilities.