The made-in-India UAV showcased its capabilities to a Tri-services team for the first time on 27 June

The indigenously-developed Tactical Aerial Platform for Advanced Surveillance(TAPAS) 201 Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is now ready for user evaluation trials.

TAPAS 201, designed and developed by the Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), is a multi-mission UAV to carry out the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance roles for the three armed forces with an endurance of 24 to 30 hours.

On June 27, the TAPAS UAV was demonstrated before the Tri-Services team for the first time at Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga.

The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) said that the Tri-Services team appreciated the indigenous efforts for the development of UAV, and that it is now ready for user evaluation trials.

The made-in-India UAV showcased its capabilities to a Tri-services team for the first time

The UAV also achieved a milestone of 200 flights as it was demonstrated before the Tri-Services team.

“The 200th flight of TAPAS UAV was demonstrated to the Tri-Services team for the first time at ATR Chitradurga on 27th June 2023. Tri-Services team appreciated the indigenous efforts for development of UAV. TAPAS is now ready for user evaluation trials,” the DRDO said.

On June 16, the DRDO and the Indian Navy successfully demonstrated transferring of command and control capabilities of TAPAS UAV from a distant ground station to onboard INS Subhadra, 148km from Karwar Naval Base.

Dubbed the Indian version of the U.S.’ Predator drones, TAPAS 201 is capable of carrying different combinations of payloads like Medium Range Electro Optic, Long Range Electro Optic, Synthetic Aperture Radar, Electronic Intelligence, Communication Intelligence and Situational Awareness Payloads to perform missions during day and night.

The MALE UAV was earlier referred to as Rustom. Apart from the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy, internal security agencies like State police forces, Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Coast Guards are also prospective users of Rustom.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) will be the production partners for the MALE UAV.