Some of us, who were present at the recent WZCC AGM, may have realized that both the brothers mentioned in the mail below were present amongst us.
– Hoshang.
Friends,
It is a proud moment in history to see India’s UAV Drone (pilotless aircraft) named after a Zoroastrian aeronautics engineer, designer and project leader that produced the prototype at at Bangalore, the late Professor Dr. Rustom Behramji Damania, included in this year’s (2012) India’s Republic Day Parade on 26th January. The picture was provided by Dr. Rustom Damania’s older brother Minocheher, a mechanical engineer, from Mumbai, India, and forwarded to me by his younger brother Dr. Ardeshir B. Damania who works as a crop plant geneticist at University of California, Davis.
Maneck Bhujwala
Rustom-I, a medium altitude long endurance UAV, takes-off and lands like a conventional aircraft from a very short runway.
An outdoor pilot standing on the ground close to the runway exercises the take-off and landing of the U
Rustom-I can fly for 12 to 15 hours, at speeds up to 250 km per hour. It is intended to be used for surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition, fire correction and battlefield damage assessment. Further development of its use as a weapon delivery mechanism cannot be ruled out.
The UAV is likely to be inducted in all three wings of the Indian armed forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) and internal security organizations such as, the state police forces, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police, and the Coast Guard in the near future.