Bangalore, June 17 (IANS) The state-run Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and its National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) have jointly set up a research facility here to test bird strikes on aircraft using air guns, the institute said Monday.

"The integrated impact and crashworthiness research facility is equipped with capability for bird strike testing using one of the largest air guns in the world," NAL's structural technologies division head Satish Chandra said in a statement here.

The indigenous facility will also carry out tests for runway debris, hail stones and other foreign object damage as part of its research in flight safety and occupant safety, applicable to aerospace and automotive customers.

"We have commissioned a crash testing for aerospace and automotive product development at the high-tech facility and built drop towers to test aircraft crashworthiness," Chandra said.

The facility has also capability to study occupant safety using crash dummies to assess impact of injury to users.

 "We have high-speed imaging, crash recorders and material testing infrastructure at the facility with capability to conduct simulations by our scientists and engineers," Chandra said.

The facility will have airbags and low-cost safety solutions to carry out various crash tests in air and on road.

"The facility will be made available to aerospace and automotive organisations to conduct tests in compliance with regulations for aircraft as well as automotive vehicles," Chandra added.