India UAV Programs

[Gautam]

@Nilgiri @Paro @#comcom et al...

ADA Ghatak UCAV is a under-development stealth combat drone. "Ghatak" in Hindi means Lethal.

The design phase of the project has almost ended. A full scale metal version of the drone is being made for RCS measurements and optimisations. A smaller version would be made and flown powered by a Russian NPO Saturn 36MT engine to prove the control laws of the drone.
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The full scale version would be powered by a dry version of the GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri engine. Dry version as in without the afterburner. The Kaveri produces 52KN of thrust at a power to weight ratio of 7.8:1. Enough for a combat drone :
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Note the nozzle section, as shown here are just an interim thing. These photos are from AeroIndia 2015 and the Ghatak project was in very early stages then. The UAV was aimed at being stealthy so its likely that it might end up with a more stealthier nozzle design.

The Kaveri project was handed over to the GTRE because they were the only organisation in the country with experience in turbines at that time. GTRE had developed the GTX37-14U afterburning turbojet engine. So the work for them appeared simple at the first glance. All they had to do was to cover up the turbojet with a turbine tube and attach a compressor fan at the front. This would create a bypass flow around the core, thus turning the engine to a turbofan. Simple right ? The problem arrived when the fan was attached and the turbine inlet temperature increased rapidly often melting internals. Our materials technology couldn't keep up with this. So a small bypass ratio of 0.16:1 adopted. At this small a bypass ratio, the Kaveri is more of a "leaky turbojet" than a true turbofan.

Extensive modifications were done to the GTX37-14U turbojet . Eventually the new turbojet was named "Kabini". The Kabini serves as the core of the Kaveri engine. Here is an old photo of the core :
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Getting back to the UCAV. Since it is a stealth UCAV it has a compact serpentine intake duct to hide the engine from radar waves. This kind of an intake tube will create large distortions of air pressure at the fan of the engine. This increases the chances of compressor stalling.
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The problem of distortions are to be countered in 2 ways. One is by introducing vortex generators into the serpentine intake duct to somewhat stabilise the air flow fluctuations & the other is by designing a new compressor fan which is more tolerant of inlet distortions. The new fan design was shown in AeroIndia 2019
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Fabrication work of the fan has been completed. We are currently testing the engine performance when it is mated to the serpentine duct.

Fan components :
3D printed anti-icing assembly on the variable inlet guide vanes & front bearing of the drive shaft assembly for the Kaveri jet engine :
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Look at those long chord blades. Beautiful.

Our grasp of metallurgy/coatings etc have gotten a lot better since the 1980s. We did test a scramjet recently, the temp faced by that engine is much greater.

For the Kaveri GTRE has developed single crystal blades & vanes, Yttria-stabilised cubic zirconia thermal barrier coatings. These two combined should give us over 1800 K turbine inlet temperature capability, currently its at 1700 K. That would also allow us to increase bypass ratio & over-all pressure ratio which would further give us more power, better efficiency & better thrust to weigh ratio.

All of this is great but we need to be able to manufacture these things at least in quantity. Thankfully there has been some movement on that front. Recently GTRE has invited "reputed Indian Industries/Orgs" with minimum 2 years experience of aerospace-grade manufacturing for component manufacturing, module-level assembly, engine level integration & delivery to GTRE of 50kN class aero-engine.

• The plan is to make 5 engines in first 3-4 years, to be made with GTRE as Lead System Integrator(LSI).
• 15 more engines over the next 3-4 years with an industry partner taking over LSI role.
• Sum total of only 20 engines over next 7-8 years.
• A production run of 70-80 engines is envisaged thereafter over 10-12 years.
• The first 5 engines planned to be realized at a 3-month interval with subsequent engines made at 2-month intervals.

HAL is an obvious player. Others like Bharat Forge, TATA Aerospace Systems Ltd., L&T Aerospace, Godrej & Boyce Aerospace are all likely to go for it. If they are planning a production run of 80 engines then we will probably order 40 of the Ghatak UCAVs, assuming each uses up 2 engines in its lifetime. Would've preferred a larger order, but with the budgetary constraints 40 is not bad.

So SWiFT took its first flight. CLAWS validation flights have commenced a bit late. It was scheduled for August 2020. COVID might be the reason. @Nilgiri @Paro @Zapper et al you guys seen this ?

ADA-IISc's remotely piloted aircraft successfully test flown​

By Hemanth CS
Updated: Nov 3, 2020, 06:00 IST

The maiden test flight was carried out at TAAL airfield in Hosur

A prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and the Indian Institute of the Science (IISc) was recently successfully test flown.

This prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with Micro Jet Engine Propulsion is said to be the first-of-its-kind developed and flight tested in the country. Terming this a defence project, an official said that the project is a joint collaboration between the ADA and the IISc’s Department of Aerospace Engineering.

“This is a defence project where the design for the prototype has come from the ADA, while the mould composition, integration of the airframes, engine, fuel tank along with the testing was done by the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s UAV lab which has a lot of expertise in the developing these kind of aircraft,” an official told BM.

The ADA which is the nodal agency for LCA Tejas is also involved in the design and development of the Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA).

The official refused to comment on whether the delta wing remotely piloted aircraft is being developed to carry weapon payloads.

The maiden test flight of the prototype was carried out at the Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd (TAAL) airfield in Hosur. Further giving out details about the flight parameters of the maiden flight, the official said that the aircraft attained a maximum velocity of 190 kmph per hour at 50 per cent throttle, while the take off velocity was 155 kmph and approach velocity was 130 kmph.

“Since this was the first flight we did not want to take much risk with the speed and flew only with 50 per cent throttle. This aircraft is designed for higher speed it can attain a velocity upto 300 kmph,” he said.

KingTech-140 Turbine

During the flight, the aircraft which is powered by Kingtech 140 attained an altitude of 100 metres.

“ To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-of-its-kind indigenous project to be successfully developed and tested in the country. Over the world there are plenty of such aircraft with delta wing configuration especially flown by forces of US and Israel,” the official added.

ADA-IISc's remotely piloted aircraft successfully test flown

This prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with Micro Jet Engine Propulsion is said to be the first-of-its-kind developed and flight tested in the country.

bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com

 

[Raptor]

So SWiFT took its first flight. CLAWS validation flights have commenced a bit late. It was scheduled for August 2020. COVID might be the reason. @Nilgiri @Paro @Zapper et al you guys seen this ?

ADA-IISc's remotely piloted aircraft successfully test flown​

By Hemanth CS
Updated: Nov 3, 2020, 06:00 IST
View attachment 6566
The maiden test flight was carried out at TAAL airfield in Hosur

A prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and the Indian Institute of the Science (IISc) was recently successfully test flown.

This prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with Micro Jet Engine Propulsion is said to be the first-of-its-kind developed and flight tested in the country. Terming this a defence project, an official said that the project is a joint collaboration between the ADA and the IISc’s Department of Aerospace Engineering.

“This is a defence project where the design for the prototype has come from the ADA, while the mould composition, integration of the airframes, engine, fuel tank along with the testing was done by the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s UAV lab which has a lot of expertise in the developing these kind of aircraft,” an official told BM.

The ADA which is the nodal agency for LCA Tejas is also involved in the design and development of the Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA).

The official refused to comment on whether the delta wing remotely piloted aircraft is being developed to carry weapon payloads.

The maiden test flight of the prototype was carried out at the Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd (TAAL) airfield in Hosur. Further giving out details about the flight parameters of the maiden flight, the official said that the aircraft attained a maximum velocity of 190 kmph per hour at 50 per cent throttle, while the take off velocity was 155 kmph and approach velocity was 130 kmph.

“Since this was the first flight we did not want to take much risk with the speed and flew only with 50 per cent throttle. This aircraft is designed for higher speed it can attain a velocity upto 300 kmph,” he said.

View attachment 6569
KingTech-140 Turbine

During the flight, the aircraft which is powered by Kingtech 140 attained an altitude of 100 metres.

“ To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-of-its-kind indigenous project to be successfully developed and tested in the country. Over the world there are plenty of such aircraft with delta wing configuration especially flown by forces of US and Israel,” the official added.

ADA-IISc's remotely piloted aircraft successfully test flown

This prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with Micro Jet Engine Propulsion is said to be the first-of-its-kind developed and flight tested in the country.

bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com

I doubt its SWiFt cause its weight is 1 tons

 

[Paro]

So SWiFT took its first flight. CLAWS validation flights have commenced a bit late. It was scheduled for August 2020. COVID might be the reason. @Nilgiri @Paro @Zapper et al you guys seen this ?

ADA-IISc's remotely piloted aircraft successfully test flown​

By Hemanth CS
Updated: Nov 3, 2020, 06:00 IST
View attachment 6566
The maiden test flight was carried out at TAAL airfield in Hosur

A prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and the Indian Institute of the Science (IISc) was recently successfully test flown.

This prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with Micro Jet Engine Propulsion is said to be the first-of-its-kind developed and flight tested in the country. Terming this a defence project, an official said that the project is a joint collaboration between the ADA and the IISc’s Department of Aerospace Engineering.

“This is a defence project where the design for the prototype has come from the ADA, while the mould composition, integration of the airframes, engine, fuel tank along with the testing was done by the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s UAV lab which has a lot of expertise in the developing these kind of aircraft,” an official told BM.

The ADA which is the nodal agency for LCA Tejas is also involved in the design and development of the Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA).

The official refused to comment on whether the delta wing remotely piloted aircraft is being developed to carry weapon payloads.

The maiden test flight of the prototype was carried out at the Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd (TAAL) airfield in Hosur. Further giving out details about the flight parameters of the maiden flight, the official said that the aircraft attained a maximum velocity of 190 kmph per hour at 50 per cent throttle, while the take off velocity was 155 kmph and approach velocity was 130 kmph.

“Since this was the first flight we did not want to take much risk with the speed and flew only with 50 per cent throttle. This aircraft is designed for higher speed it can attain a velocity upto 300 kmph,” he said.

View attachment 6569
KingTech-140 Turbine

During the flight, the aircraft which is powered by Kingtech 140 attained an altitude of 100 metres.

“ To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-of-its-kind indigenous project to be successfully developed and tested in the country. Over the world there are plenty of such aircraft with delta wing configuration especially flown by forces of US and Israel,” the official added.

ADA-IISc's remotely piloted aircraft successfully test flown

This prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with Micro Jet Engine Propulsion is said to be the first-of-its-kind developed and flight tested in the country.

bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com

Any clear photos of the UAV?

 

[Gautam]

I doubt its SWiFt cause its weight is 1 tons

SWiFT program is not a single drone program. It is about proving the flight laws, automatic take off & landing sequence etc of the GHATAK UCAV. There are at least 3 drones to be used as tech demonstrators. One of which is the NPO Saturn 36MT powered 1ton drone.

Any clear photos of the UAV?

This is the best we have at the moment :

This is from IIT-Kanpur, the drone flown was by IISc-Bangalore. Both institutes are involved in the GHATAK project.

If you can spare the time, consider watching this video:

 

[Raptor]

SWiFT program is not a single drone program. It is about proving the flight laws, automatic take off & landing sequence etc of the GHATAK UCAV. There are at least 3 drones to be used as tech demonstrators. One of which is the NPO Saturn 36MT powered 1ton drone.

Okay,so according to you when is the first flight of 1 ton SWiFt happening,according to current situation?

 

[Gautam]

Okay,so according to you when is the first flight of 1 ton SWiFt happening,according to current situation?

Hard to say. The 1 ton drone isn't separately marked from the smaller ones. In 2018, the then RM Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the following in the Parliament :

(The dates are project start date & estimated date of project closure. The last column is money allocated for the projects in crores of INR.)

Most of the projects are on schedule. The AKASH 1-S is already complete, many others were tested recently. The SWiFT program was to end on Dec 2020 & we have just witnessed the first flight. It is running at least a year behind schedule. The flight was to happen months prior.

As for the 1 ton drone I would guess the first flight should be in second half of 2021. This is just a guess, I have nothing to back it up. Use salt as needed.

 

[Zapper]

So SWiFT took its first flight. CLAWS validation flights have commenced a bit late. It was scheduled for August 2020. COVID might be the reason. @Nilgiri @Paro @Zapper et al you guys seen this ?

ADA-IISc's remotely piloted aircraft successfully test flown​

By Hemanth CS
Updated: Nov 3, 2020, 06:00 IST
View attachment 6566
The maiden test flight was carried out at TAAL airfield in Hosur

A prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and the Indian Institute of the Science (IISc) was recently successfully test flown.

This prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with Micro Jet Engine Propulsion is said to be the first-of-its-kind developed and flight tested in the country. Terming this a defence project, an official said that the project is a joint collaboration between the ADA and the IISc’s Department of Aerospace Engineering.

“This is a defence project where the design for the prototype has come from the ADA, while the mould composition, integration of the airframes, engine, fuel tank along with the testing was done by the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s UAV lab which has a lot of expertise in the developing these kind of aircraft,” an official told BM.

The ADA which is the nodal agency for LCA Tejas is also involved in the design and development of the Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA).

The official refused to comment on whether the delta wing remotely piloted aircraft is being developed to carry weapon payloads.

The maiden test flight of the prototype was carried out at the Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd (TAAL) airfield in Hosur. Further giving out details about the flight parameters of the maiden flight, the official said that the aircraft attained a maximum velocity of 190 kmph per hour at 50 per cent throttle, while the take off velocity was 155 kmph and approach velocity was 130 kmph.

“Since this was the first flight we did not want to take much risk with the speed and flew only with 50 per cent throttle. This aircraft is designed for higher speed it can attain a velocity upto 300 kmph,” he said.

View attachment 6569
KingTech-140 Turbine

During the flight, the aircraft which is powered by Kingtech 140 attained an altitude of 100 metres.

“ To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-of-its-kind indigenous project to be successfully developed and tested in the country. Over the world there are plenty of such aircraft with delta wing configuration especially flown by forces of US and Israel,” the official added.

ADA-IISc's remotely piloted aircraft successfully test flown

This prototype of a delta wing remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with Micro Jet Engine Propulsion is said to be the first-of-its-kind developed and flight tested in the country.

bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com

Yeah, we're still juggling with RC drones while smaller countries including Iran have made significant progress in drone tech. With the recent Armenia-Azer conflict, IA should've already realized the importance and impact of UAV warfare instead of relying completely on mechanized columns for offensive ops.

Chinese in particular have huge inventories of UCAVs which'll definitely be swarmed in when a large scale conflict arises

 

[Gautam]

Yeah, we're still juggling with RC drones while smaller countries including Iran have made significant progress in drone tech.

On the list above look at the budget allocated to SWiFT & the budget allocated to the missiles recently tested. Tells you something about priority doesn't it ? You can't get good at something you don't prioritize. Ditto with our small arms development story.

With the recent Armenia-Azer conflict, IA should've already realized the importance and impact of UAV warfare instead of relying completely on mechanized columns for offensive ops.

How much of Airforce, AD & EW was involved in that conflict ? I haven't been following it.

Chinese in particular have huge inventories of UCAVs which'll definitely be swarmed in when a large scale conflict arises

I remember the Chinese touting drone transported food for their troops after IA captured the peaks on Kailash range. I also remember seeing the Chinese using donkeys to transport materials/food in a recent video after the winter began to set in.

I am less impressed by their inventory today then I was a few years back, whatever my opinion is worth. Horses for courses, donkeys for mountains.

 

[Zapper]

On the list above look at the budget allocated to SWiFT & the budget allocated to the missiles recently tested. Tells you something about priority doesn't it ? You can't get good at something you don't prioritize. Ditto with our small arms development story

Exactly what I'm saying. We can't keep justifying our slow progress in Drone tech due to lack of investment. It's high time MoD & the armed forces realizes the importance of UAV warfare and we're bound to see UAV and drone swarm attacks from China if a conflict arises

How much of Airforce, AD & EW was involved in that conflict ? I haven't been following it.

I haven't been proactively following it either but seen quite a lot of drone attacks on Mechanized columns, troop carriers and ADs in their conflict. Unsure about EW but both sides had attack choppers deployed and airforce to some extent. Turkish F-16s were also supporting Azeris

I remember the Chinese touting drone transported food for their troops after IA captured the peaks on Kailash range. I also remember seeing the Chinese using donkeys to transport materials/food in a recent video after the winter began to set in.

I am less impressed by their inventory today then I was a few years back, whatever my opinion is worth. Horses for courses, donkeys for mountains.

Impressed with the chinese or not, they're still way ahead of us in drone tech. We've seen their Wing Long UAV being exported and currently supporting ops in the middle east and Africa

Wing Long II

AVIC Cloud Shadow

CH-5

Stealth Drones

 

[kaykay]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1331560058287579137

 

[kaykay]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1331578753797869568

This suggests more armed drones are planned in near future.

 

[Gautam]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1332134584012640256

 

[crixus]

Now I have a gutt feeling that IN will go for F-18s , P-8is , and reapers , will see give offensive capabilities to In in IOR

 

[Fuzuli NL]

Didn't India have a large range of UAVs?
Why are they leasing Predators?

 

[crixus]

Didn't India have a large range of UAVs?
Why are they leasing Predators?

No country can beat US in sensors , these two leased drones will complement the P8Is in IOR and will be helpful in crew training for future procurements ...... Indian Navy uses Israili searchers and Herons .....

 

[Madokafc]

Why not taking Global Hawk UAV

 

[Zapper]

Now I have a gutt feeling that IN will go for F-18s , P-8is , and reapers , will see give offensive capabilities to In in IOR

IN is more interested in a medium sized twin engine fighter jet. The F-18 is significantly larger on the lines of an Su-30

 

[Paro]

Now I have a gutt feeling that IN will go for F-18s , P-8is , and reapers , will see give offensive capabilities to In in IOR

I dont think so. Navy doesn’t seem to be interested in either rafale or f18. They were more interested in E2 hawkeye are still are. As per my knowledge only new lca’s or migs are going to compliment future air wings. Rafale has a chance if they could come up with folding wings but it’s high unlikely.

The navy seems to be trying to get more Mig29s for costal defense role under the new theater command defense plan. Recently sending migs on air patrol to ladakh is a step in that direction.

 

[Paro]

Why not taking Global Hawk UAV

Too big, too costly. The trick is to cover more area using medium sized drones and bring in p8i for final confirmation and kill.

 

[Madokafc]

Too big, too costly. The trick is to cover more area using medium sized drones and bring in p8i for final confirmation and kill.

But perfect to patrol on IOR and cover large swath area at one go, and it's not like' there is significant aerial and anti air capability to the platform in the IOR