Sheshnaag 150 UAV Completes Maiden Flight, Demonstrating Exceptional Precision in Terminal Phase with a 5m CEP

In a major advancement for India's homegrown defense technology, NewSpace Research and Technologies, a Bengaluru-based company, successfully completed the first flight of its Sheshnaag 150 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

This achievement represents a crucial step for the company and showcases India's increasing expertise in sophisticated aerospace engineering.

The Sheshnaag 150, created as a platform for accurate strikes, showcased its capabilities during the test flight, especially in its final approach.

When attacking a pre-selected ground target, the UAV demonstrated remarkable precision, achieving a Circular Error Probable (CEP) of only 5 meters. This demonstrates the UAV's accuracy and dependability. CEP is a standard measure in ballistics, representing the radius of a circle within which 50% of strikes are expected to land. A smaller CEP indicates higher accuracy.

NewSpace Research and Technologies is a significant contributor to India's growing private defense industry. It has developed the Sheshnaag 150 as a long-distance strike UAV, designed to deliver its payload with extreme accuracy.

While full specifications regarding its operational range, flight duration, and maximum payload are not yet public, the UAV's performance in this initial test suggests it is built for missions requiring penetration deep into enemy territory, providing military strategists with significant operational options.

The name Sheshnaag, refer to the mythological serpent king, often depicted as a powerful and protective figure, implying qualities of strength, reach, and precision.

This successful test flight occurs as India is accelerating its efforts to improve its unmanned aerial systems capabilities. This drive is fueled by both the need to address regional security concerns and a broader national strategy to achieve self-sufficiency in defense production, known as the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" initiative.

The Sheshnaag 150’s ability to conduct precise strikes could be extremely valuable in situations where neutralizing high-priority targets with minimal risk of unintended damage is essential – a characteristic that is becoming increasingly important in modern military conflicts. The use of UAVs like the Sheshnaag 150 can also significantly reduce the risk to human pilots in dangerous missions.

 

[Radha Ramanan]

Great, the accuracy can always be improved in further tests, but the real question is what is the range involved for this accuracy. Because in navigation systems, gyro drift is proportional to range < i.e., the longer the time taken for a platform to reach the target, the more inaccurate it is. The latest nav systems use fiber optic gyros that have great accuracy, but they are expensive. We import the Sigma 95 laser inertial nav system from France for many airborne platforms, including the Su-30MKI > this has a drift of 3 km for 1 hr. I.e., if a target is 1 hr away, the fighter will miss by 3 km if it is not updated. Fortunately, there is a very accurate GPS system that corrects the error in nav so that the accuracy is dot on.

 

[Frank]

Range??

 

[AK S]

Range??

As per spec about 1500km. Iranian Shahed class.

 

[Dipesh Debnath]

There should be a day-night camera-based terminal seeker. It ensures pinpoint accuracy. Only inertial and GPS terminal homing will have high chances of missing the target. Ukraine uses AI-based terminal homing on FPVs, and these are totally jam-proof.