Recent content by Gessler

The first batch of HAL's HTT-40 basic trainers have been delivered to IAF, it's also got a new name "Ankur"! The current ~$750 million order is for 70 aircraft, with option for 36 more.

Steel cutting of the 2nd Next-Generation Missile Vessel (NGMV) at CSL, Kochi: Some people put AI to use, giving a clearer look at the ship on the poster in 1st pic: Displacing around ~1500 tons, the NGMV pretty much seems to be an enlarged ASW-SWC hull design, but powered by a single...

Another look at the KDE (Kaveri Dry), ~50 kN turbofan meant for the Ghatak/IUSAV flying-wing drone: ^^ From DRDO's September 2026 newsletter.

PRAGYA has achieved first light! Rapid progress! https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/bengaluru-based-pranos-unveils-indias-1st-private-compact-nuclear-fusion-reactor-pragya-2986249-2026-09-03 "According to Pranos, the reactor took around eight months to build. The company plans...

Apollyon's Ahuti Mk-II interceptor drone:

Video is a mix of English & Hindi, refer to key details listed out below: Some details on the Astrobase EVEREST FFSC engine: Engine weight: ~700 kg Flow rate: 250 liters/sec Flow speed inside pumps: 0.5 km/sec Turbopumps consume 5 MW of power each. Runs at 30,000 + RPM. ==== Thanks to...

Khagantak-243 has a 140+ km range when dropped from 40,000 ft. It was developed by JSR Dynamics in collaboration with BEL under their Long Range Glide Bomb (LRGB) project: https://jsrdynamics.in/long-range-glide-bomb-lrgb/ Initial orders (undisclosed numbers) have already been placed...

Assembly pics... The 2.2 ton GISAT-1A (EOS-05 under new naming system) is a very important geostationary Earth Observation satellite with a strategic role. It's widely understood to have a very SBIRS-like ability of detecting ballistic missile launches among other capabilities, all of...

Ah, ok. But all 4 subs will not be available at the same time though, only 1 or at best 2 will be in a ready-to-launch state at any given time. The build rate does get faster as you make more boats, but there's no shortcuts in Sea Acceptance Trials (SATs). The Arihant-class is pretty unique...

2028 is more likely. The fourth boat started sea trials only in December 2025, a minimum of 2 years is a given. So late 2027/early 2028 completion of trials. Commissioning a few months afterward so mid-2028. Lol, no. It'll be a Stretched boat, same as the 3rd one (Aridhaman), so either 8 K4...

Rows of ALAKH Kamikaze Drones lined up for production are more than a striking sight, they represent the scale at which modern unmanned combat systems are being built. ALAKH is designed as a loitering munition, capable of reaching a designated area, remaining airborne while identifying an...

Interesting... I'm wondering if the missile is the DRDO VSHORADS or a different one?

It probably serves to know that IN always wanted a next-gen (read: 5th gen) naval fighter. The only reason they reluctantly 'agreed' for the current 4.5/4++ gen TEDBF was because they were promised a hasty timeline of realization (which became a necessity due to unforeseen operational problems...

What I'm seeing is that unlike most other Indian startups, Astrobase is adopting a very SpaceX-like 'move fast & break things' approach & work culture. It probably helps that one of the founders (Neeraj Khandelwal, seen in this video) is worth at least $300 million 😁 Oh and btw, the other...