India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) announced on July 1 through the Press Information Bureau (PIB) that it has conducted the first test flight of a small technology demonstrator of a flying wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UCAV).
The DRDO said the UCAV demonstrator took off from the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga. The small aircraft developed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADE) is a testbed to validate the design of the Indian Air Force’s Ghatak UCAV programme, also known as the Stealth Wing Flight Testbed (SWiFT).
“Operating in fully autonomous mode, the aircraft [performed] Takeoff, waypoint navigation and a smooth landing,” said DRDO. “This flight marks an important milestone in proving key technologies for future drone development. “
The test flight video shows that DRDO has developed two different prototypes, the first is a pure flying wing design and the second is a vertical tail. The agency previously said the demonstrator should be able to operate at a line-of-sight range of 200 kilometers and an altitude of around 6,000 meters for up to an hour.
The DRDO announced earlier in January 2021 that SWiFT’s self-developed retractable landing gear weighing up to 1 ton, specifically designed to fit in the limited internal bays of a UCAV, has been delivered by its Combat Vehicle Research and Development Organization (CVRDE).
The Ghatak program, which began around 2009, called for highly autonomous UCAVs to be equipped to launch missiles and laser-guided munitions. The UCAV is expected to be equipped with a large internal weapons bay.
The demonstrator is believed to be powered by a domestic derivative of the Kaveri turbofan engine, although known problems with this engine type suggest that a Russian-made powerplant is likely to be used as a stopgap. DRDO claims that the airframe, flight control and avionics systems used in the aircraft are indigenously developed.
by Jr Ng
