''Ghatak'' (pronounced: gʰɑːt̪ək) is an autonomous jet powered stealthy

unmanned combat air vehicle An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...

(UCAV), being developed by

Aeronautical Development Establishment Aeronautical Development Establishment is a laboratory of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation. Located in Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karna ...

(ADE) of the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

(DRDO) for the Indian Air Force. The design work on the

UCAV An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...

is to be carried out by

Aeronautical Development Agency The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under Department of Defence Research and Development (DR&D) of India's Ministry of Defence was established at Bangalore, in 1984 to oversee the development of the nation's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) p ...

(ADA). ''Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA)'' was a tentative name for the UCAV. Details of the project are classified. The Ghatak UCAV will have internal weapons bay for carrying

missiles In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

, bombs and precision-guided munitions. Its design will be based on

flying-wing A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blis ...

concept, and will be powered by a turbofan engine. The first flight of a scaled down testbed was carried out in July 2022, and that of a full scale prototype is expected in 2025.

Description

The Ghatak is an autonomous jet powered stealthy

(UCAV), being developed by the

(ADE). It was initially called the ''Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA),'' but was eventually renamed as ''Ghatak'' UCAV. In 2015, Defence Minister

Manohar Parrikar Manohar Parrikar (born Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar; 13 December 1955 – 17 March 2019) was an Indian politician and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party who served as Chief Minister of Goa from 14 March 2017 until his death. Previous ...

informed Rajya Sabha that Ghatak UCAV will be powered by a dry variant of

Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri (hill), Karnataka, Brahmagiri range in th ...

afterburning turbofan engine, which will have a thrust of 52

kilonewton The newton (symbol: N) is the unit of force in the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as 1 kg⋅m/s, the force which gives a mass of 1 kilogram an acceleration of 1 metre per second per second. It is named after Isaac Newton in r ...

s. The flight control system and data link packages of the UCAV will be developed inhouse by ADA and

Defence Electronics Application Laboratory Center for Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL) is a laboratory of the Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO). Located in Dehradun, its primary function is research and development in the radio communication devices for ...

. The Ghatak UCAV will be developed with public – private sector participation. In 2011, in an interview given to

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bu ...

DRDO The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

's Chief Controller, R&D (aeronautics), Dr Prahlada said, "the UCAV will have on-board mission computers, data links, fire control radars, identification of friend or foe, and collision avoidance systems, they will be highly intelligent drones", he also added that "UCAV will be capable of flying at altitudes of and weighing less than 15 tonnes, will have rail-launching for the missiles, bombs and PGMs (precision-guided munitions) they will carry."

Development

Project Ghatak

Project Ghatak was initiated as a successor to the 2009 AURA (Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft) programme. The AURA was a pioneer programme sanctioned in 2009 with a budget of , to carryout a feasibility study for the future Indian UCAV. The AURA programme was completed in April 2013. The project Ghatak was initiated by ADA in consultation with the Indian Air Force (IAF), with an objective to develop a stealthy UCAV based on flying wing design. The flying wing configuration is inherently stealthy, can carry more fuel and payload than conventional UCAV designs, however it has more complex flight control surfaces and laws.

Times Now Times Now is an English news channel in India owned and operated by The Times Group. The channel launched on 23 January 2006 in partnership with Reuters. It is a pay television throughout India. Until 2016, it was India's most popular and the m ...

news quoting DRDO scientists reports that this design ensures optimum fuel use and stability for the aircraft. The Ghatak UCAV is projected to weigh less than a fighter jet and is intended to be powered by a 'dry engine' derivative of

GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri The GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri is an afterburning turbofan project developed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a lab under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bengaluru, India. An Indian design, the Kaveri was ...

turbofan engine capable of producing a thrust of 52 kN. According to a Press Information Bureau (PIB) document dated to 2017, an initial fund of had been allocated in 2016 for the design of Ghatak and development of critical advanced Technologies for Ghatak &

HAL AMCA The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is an Indian programme to develop a fifth-generation stealth, multirole, air superiority fighter for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy which will also include sixth-generation technologies. ...

. The

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

is also interested in the project, and is keen on acquiring deck based UCAVs for future aircraft carriers and Landing Platform Docks (LPD).

Stealth Wing Flying Testbed (SWiFT)

Development of a scaled down technology demonstrator of Ghatak UCAV, called ''Stealth Wing Flying Testbed'' (SWiFT), began in 2020. According to DRDO, the SWiFT UAV is intended to develop and demonstrate technologies for controlling the flying wing configuration and flight characteristics at high-subsonic speed. The ground trials of SWiFT UAV began in June 2021, picture and videos of it carrying out taxi trials surfaced on 29 October 2021. It had resemblance to the US Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The SWiFT UAV has a length of 4 metres and a wingspan of 5 metres. The weigh of Swift UAV is around 1 tonne, and it uses a

NPO Saturn UEC NPO Saturn, PJSC (russian: ОДК-Сатурн НПО) is a Russian aircraft engine manufacturer, formed from the mergers of Rybinsk Motors and Lyul'ka-Saturn (after Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka) in 2001. Saturn's engines power many former ...

36MT or TRDD-50MT

turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanic ...

engine. The SWiFT UAV (technology demonstrator of Ghatak UCAV) took its maiden flight on 1 July 2022. According to DRDO, the aircraft exhibited a perfect flight, including take-off, way-point navigation and a smooth touchdown while operating in a fully autonomous mode. However, the aircraft flown in the video uses a

vertical stabilizer A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, s ...

which is otherwise absent from the design. This is possibly due to issues with the horizontal stability of the aircraft. The airframe, undercarriage and entire flight control and avionics systems used for the aircraft (SWiFT UAV) were developed indigenously. Apart from being a precursor for technology development related to Ghatak project, SWiFT might also move ahead as separate project under

unmanned An uncrewed vehicle or unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board. Uncrewed vehicles can either be under telerobotic control—remote controlled or remote guided vehicles—or they can be autonomously controlled—autonomous vehicl ...

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation. According to t ...

bomber program.

Notes

References

External links

Stealth UCAV AURA
Technical:
Engine Layout and Modules of Manik STFE
{{Stealth aircraft Stealth aircraft Proposed aircraft of India Proposed military aircraft Unmanned military aircraft of India AURA Unmanned stealth aircraft