India successfully tests high-speed fighter jet escape system at 800km/h

Defence minister describes event as a ‘significant milestone’

- BY CHRISTIAN BORBON

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted a complex, high-speed rocket-sled test of a fighter aircraft escape system at its facility in Chandigarh, validating the complete aircrew-recovery sequence.

The test, performed at the Rail Track Rocket Sled (RTRS) facility of the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), saw a Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) forebody propelled to a precisely controlled velocity of 800km/h, achieving a significant technological milestone for the nation’s indigenous defence capability.

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