Hawk-i test fires smart anti-airfield weapon

The State-owned HindustanAeronautics Limited on Thursday achieved a major milestone bysuccessfully test-firing a Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW)from the Hawk-i aircraft off the coast of Odisha.

The indigenous stand-off weapon, developed byDefence Research and Development Organisation's ResearchCentre Imarat (RCI), is the first smart weapon fired from anIndian Hawk-Mk132, the HAL said in a statement.

''This was the first test conducted from the Hawk-iaircraft.The results were on the expected line when it hit thetarget with precision,'' an HAL official told PTI.

The aircraft flown by HAL test pilots Wing Commander(Retd) P Awasthi and Wg Cdr (Retd) M Patel executed the weaponrelease in a text book manner and all mission objectives weremet.

The telemetry and tracking systems captured all themission events confirming the success of the trials.

''The Company owned Hawk-i platform is beingextensively used for certification of systems and weaponsdeveloped indigenously by DRDO and CSIR labs,'' R Madhavan,CMD, HAL, said.

Arup Chatterjee, Director, Engineering and Researchand Development, HAL said HAL is indigenously enhancing thetraining and combat capability of Hawk-i.

According to the HAL, the state-owned company is indiscussions with Indian Armed Forces for integration ofvarious weapons on Hawk platform.

The HAL had rolled out the indigenously upgradedHawk Mk132 on the eve of Republic Day in 2017.

The Imported Mission Computer and Data TransferUnits in the upgraded aircraft were substituted with HALdesigned and developed systems.

HAWK-i provides secured voice communication and datalink capability by integration of Softnet Radio and pilots canconfigure and select cockpit Human Machine Interface fordifferent aircraft platforms.PTI GMS BNWELCOME BNWELCOME