Found this model of India’s Rustom-H long endurance UAV today. A full-scale mock-up of the bird made its debut at the last Aero India, replaced this year with the Rustom-1. Does the model above show any changes from the 2009 mock-up? I haven’t had the time to compare, so folks, do your thing. Will try and get more from the ADE people tomorrow. Been one draining day here at Yelahanka.
Photo by Shiv Aroor
Thank you shiv. Any info? Will it carry weapons?
Yup it is too now mature.
early mock up has box like shape this one good round typical aerodynamic shape just like Global hawks expect it has a twin engine
What is that orange colored Drone with a missile …? Can you please take a clear picture of that one..
what happened to original rustom
Striking difference is EO pod underneath nose. Rest is ok (considering absence of antennas as insignificant).
Don't west time & money purchas some more uav from isrile
Quite a few – the front section streamlined compared to egg shape of the previous verion, wing and tail tips dont have sensor antennae if they were so, engines also look more streamlined and so does the camera housing.
Looks a lot flat, must have worked on the stealth aspect of it a bit.
The orange colored missle is the lakshya, nishant on the left with rustom in the middle.
All improvements on the this mock-up are probably just aerodynamic optimization. Still under development so as they conduct wind tunnel tests/cfd analysis of the shapes, the look of the airplane will change (probably again!)
@Saurav Jha That orange colored drone is LAKSHYA.
anon 9:43 PM, paki shut up. we dont take aid from US and free weapons from China. lol
Shivji, any pic of Nirbhay?
Rustom looks great..But its limited by its range..I mean 250-350 Km ferry range is nothing, considering China building similar UAVs with 5000 Km range..Hope the HALE UAVs, which are slated to follow, has better range and global surveillance capability along with limited weapon firing role..
There are considerable changes from the older one. This looks more streamlined and sleek. I think the tail section has lost some weight.
You are kidding ??/ Presently fighters don't have this range even after in-flight refueling how is that uav gonna travel ??/ I mean in-flight refueling is not possible, then where it would get its fuel ??/ I thing you are mistaken…
@Tushar Singh Parmar…Global Hawk has 24,000 KM++ Range..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Hawk
MQ-9 Reaper has nearly 6000 KM range with sufficient weapon firing capability..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQ-9_Reaper
China's Chengdu Xianglong has 7000 KM range
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianglong_Unmanned_Reconnaissance_Aerial_Vehicle
Rustom's range is quite miserable before these figures…I don't understand what is the need of making low endurance UAVs with so much effort!!…They could have easily bought off the shelf platforms if they wanted UAVs with such limited range, because MTCR permits systems exports with max range of 300 KM..
@Tushar – You can't compare a UAV to a fighter just yet (UCAV yes). So if you look at other major UAVs like Northrop's global hawk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk); has a range of 24,000 kms. So going by that 250-300 Kms range is nothing. But its a MALE version, not sure what the HALE would be.
Another reason is strategic planning, more concerned with Pakistan, and generally around our neighborhood. So technically you don't need a global hawk like UAV, what would be nice to know is the loiter capabilities of the UAV, how much time it can spend on station, based on speed/altitude/range!
THIS IS GREAT HIGH SPEED FIGHTER IN THE WORLD .THIS IS RUSSIAN MADE .THEY MADE THIS FIGHTER AGAINST THE AMERICAN FIGHTER F60.THAT FIGHTER HAVE MOST POWER FULL RADAR IN THE WORLD .SO THE RUSSIA COVERING THAT
RADAR POWER WITH THE SPEED