New Delhi, March 10 The DRDO and the Indian Navy have conducted four successful in-flight release trials of an indigenous 'Air Droppable Container' system, designed and developed by them. This system can deliver a payload weighing 150 kg, intended for a naval vessel that may be in distress or require critical supplies and equipment, according to officials.
As all the developmental flight trials have been completed successfully, the system is expected to be inducted into the Navy soon, the defence ministry said on Tuesday.
To meet the Navy's requirement, the 'ADC-150' system for the P8I aircraft was "developed and qualified in a short timeframe".
The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Navy "jointly conducted four successful in-flight release trials of the indigenous Air Droppable Container 'ADC-150' from the P8I aircraft off the coast of Goa between February 21 to March 1, under different extreme release conditions," the ministry said in a statement.
The 'Air Droppable Container', designed and developed to deliver a 150 kg payload, "enhances the naval operational logistics capabilities for providing quick response to naval vessels under distress, requiring critical supplies or equipment, medical assistance, etc., at sea, far from the coast," it said.
Sources familiar with the matter said that any defects in machinery or equipment while vessels are at sea necessitate the delivery of critical spares to them.
A ship could retrieve the air droppable container dropped near it and receive the intended cargo while carrying out operational tasks, they said.
The ministry said that the Naval Science & Technological Laboratory, Visakhapatnam is the nodal laboratory for the activity.
"Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment, Agra has developed the parachute system and Centre for Military Airworthiness & Certification, Bengaluru provided the flight clearance & certification. Defence Research & Development Laboratory, Hyderabad provided the instrumentation support for the trials," it said.