The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) on Sunday commemorated the 55 years of the 1.2 metre trisonic wind tunnel which is the only industrial wind tunnel in the country providing high-speed aerodynamics data for the national aerospace programmes in both civil and military sectors.
The facility, which was built in Bengaluru between 1963 and 67 by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has been a test facility for many missiles, launch vehicles and aircraft developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
The DRDO’s missiles such as Agni, Akash, Prithvi, Pralay, SRSAM, LRSAM, ASTRA, NAG, LRAShM, BrahMos, Nirbhay and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were characterised in this facility.
Characterisation of Isro’s launch vehicles such as ASLV, PSLV, SLV, SSLV, GSLV, RLV, and Gaganyan programmes were also carried out at the facility.
That apart, India’s first Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-TEJAS) was conceived at this facility and many weapon integration programmes on LCA, Mirage-2000, Sukhoi-30, Jaguar, and MiG aircraft were also successfully carried out here.
“This facility has completed 55 years of glorious service to the nation and has crossed the milestone of 55,000 blowdowns which is a very commendable achievement indeed. The facility shall continue to meet the experimental aerodynamic data requirement of future programmes,” the NAL said in a statement.