Lakshya misses target, crashes in Balasore

Balasore: In a major setback, Lakshya, an advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) crashed in Balasore district here on Friday.

The UAV of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed on a patch of agricultural field at Chandamani near Baliapal this morning. However, no loss of life and property has been reported in the incident, informed Balsore SP Niti Shekhar.

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Lakshya is a pilotless target aircraft or PTA that acts as a reusable aerial target system.

Though the exact reason behind the crash is unclear, it is suspected that the UAV crashed due to some technical glitches during its routine sortie.

"It is suspected that the DRDO's aircraft crash occurred during target practice  due to some technical problem and so far there have been no reports of any casualties," said Shekhar