Chitradurga: A Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) drone crashed at Jodichikkenahalli of Chitradurga district in Karnataka early on Tuesday morning. Since it was an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), no injuries have been reported in the crash that took place at about 6 am.
According to sources, the drone had taken off on Tuesday morning from the DRDO’s Aeronautical Test Range at Kudapura, in the taluk. The drone was in the process of making a test flight up towards Hassan when it lost contact with the ground station and radar at 6:30 am. It crashed about 15 minutes later at Chikkenahalli, reported Deccan Herald, adding that district officials have stated that it was on a maiden flight experiment and DRDO officials alerted the local police soon after the UAV lost contact with radar.
While the DRDO officials have not yet issued a statement, Chitradurga Superintendent of Police Arun K told Indiatoday that the UAV which crashed in the areca nut farm was a Rustom-2 drone. It fell while the test trials were being held.
This is the second crash of a drone at the Challikere area, where the DRDO has a major testing facility. In February 2018, a small practice drone lost control and crashed while being tested at the Aeronautical Test Range.
A large number of people came out following a loud scary noise during the crash. They saw the wrecked UAV in an open field in the village. The video of the crashed UAV has gone viral.
