Ulka (Sanskrit: meteor or firebrand) is an air-launched expendable target drone of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Description

It has been developed by

DRDO The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

's laboratory

Aeronautical Development Establishment Aeronautical Development Establishment is a laboratory of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation. Located in Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karna ...

(ADE). Ulka was earlier simply known as MT (Missile Target). It has been designed to be launched from subsonic or

supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...

aircraft by means of an ejector release unit. It performed missions between 50 m to 13,000 m altitude at speeds ranging from 0.7 to 1.4 Mach with a rocket motor. It is able to simulate the speed and altitude characteristics of approaching, receding or crossing of a variety of aircraft using false

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

signatures. It is used for defensive training of surface-to-air missile crews against anti-ship missiles and for development testing and evaluation of air defense systems. It can be air-launched by a variety of aircraft. It is the first Indian aerial vehicle to incorporate a canard configuration. It has been succeeded by

Lakshya PTA Lakshya ("target" in Sanskrit) is an Indian remotely piloted high speed target drone system developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO. A variant ''Lakshya-1'' is used to perform discreet aerial reconnaissance of battl ...

References

Unmanned military aircraft of India Military equipment of India Kapothaka {{UAV-stub

Description

See also

References