Nishant, an umanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the DRDO for the Indian Army was successfully flight tested near Kolar, in Karnataka, today, according to a government statement.

The UAV is developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore jointly with Defence Electronics Application Laboratory, Dehradun, Research and Development (Engineers), Pune and Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment, Agra.

Nishant is one of the few UAVs in the world in its weight class capable of being launched in the catapult mode and recovered by deploying a parachute. This eliminates the need for a runway, as in the case of conventional take off and landing with wheels.

Nishant has completed the development phase and user trials and the present flight tests are
pre-confirmatory trials before induction into service.

The flight test was witnessed by user representatives, in the presence of senior scientists of the DRDO.