STATE-OWNED Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Thursday successfully test-fired a Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW) from the Hawk-i aircraft off the coast of Odisha. The aircraft flown by HAL test pilots Wing Commander (Retd) P Awasthi and Wg Cdr (Retd) M Patel executed the weapon release in a text book manner and all mission objectives were met.

 

The indigenous stand-off weapon, developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI), is the first smart weapon fired from an Indian Hawk-Mk132, the HAL said in a statement.The telemetry and tracking systems captured all the mission events confirming the success of the trials. “The Company owned Hawk-i platform is being extensively used for certification of systems and weapons developed indigenously by DRDO and CSIR labs,” R Madhavan, CMD, HAL, said.