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Crashed DRDO plane was on test flight

The ill-fated modified Avro aircraft of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which crashed near Madras, was expected in Bangalore on Monday night after a week-long test flight.

The aircraft, belonging to the Centre for Airborne Systems, had been fitted with a turning rotordome on top of the spine and was a technology demonstrator for an indigenous airborne early warning capability.

The aircraft, which had flown several sorties during the last one week, was on a test flight between Vellore and Tambaram.

Stunned personnel of the CABS were tight-lipped about the crash as top officials, including centre Director Dr K Ramchand and Additional Director K Tamil Mani, were away at Vellore.

DRDO chief and Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Dr A P J Abdul Kalam also reached Vellore and is expected to arrive in Bangalore with the bodies, sources said.

The Indian version of the airborne warning and control system had been in test flight with the CABS for some years now and had been flown during the Aero India shows in 1996 and 1998.

AWACS had played a crucial role during the Gulf War, and CABS had been planning to mount the AEW technology on a modern aircraft like the Russian IL-76. Efforts had already been initiated to acquire an IL-76 that was currently in service with the Indian Air Force.

Among those killed were four test pilots with the Aircraft Systems and Training Establishment, two scientists of the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment and two from the CABS.

Sources said the aircraft had already logged over 225 hours of test flight with the rotordome.

The aircraft was more than 20 years old and had rolled out of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Kanpur. The modifications to make it an AWACS was carried out at the HAL complex in Bangalore.

UNI

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