''Ghatak'' (pronounced: gʰɑːt̪ək; ''lit.'' '''Deadly in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

), initially designated as Indian Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (IUSAV), is an autonomous jet powered stealthy

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

(UCAV), being developed by

Aeronautical Development Establishment Aeronautical Development Establishment is a laboratory of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation. Located in Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until ...

(ADE) of the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, head ...

(DRDO) for the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

. The design work on the UCAV is to be carried out by the

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

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

missiles A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this u ...

, bombs and

precision-guided munition A precision-guided munition (PGM), also called a smart weapon, smart munition, or smart bomb, is a type of weapon system that integrates advanced guidance and control systems, such as Global Positioning System, GPS, laser guidance, or Infrared ...

s. Its design will be based on a

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, blist ...

concept, and will be powered by a

turbofan A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the add ...

engine. The first flight of a scaled down

testbed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computing tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental research ...

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

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

(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 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Manohar Parrikar Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar (13 December 1955 – 17 March 2019) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party who was the Chief Minister of Goa for three terms. He also served as the Union Minister of Defence ...

informed the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

that the Ghatak UCAV will be powered by a dry variant of the

Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a Rivers of India, major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari River, Godavari and Krishna River, Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin i ...

afterburning An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military aircraft, military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, ta ...

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). Expressed in terms of SI base units, it is 1 kg⋅m/s2, the force that accelerates a mass of one kilogram at one metre per second squared. The unit i ...

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 Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities ...

. 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. Owned by The Times Group, ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961 and it is sold in all major cities in India. As of 2012, it is the world's secon ...

, the

's (DRDO) 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

(IAF), with an objective to develop a stealthy UCAV 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 ...

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-language 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 popula ...

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 under development by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a lab under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bengaluru, India. An Indian design, the Ka ...

turbofan engine capable of producing a thrust of 52 kN. According to a

Press Information Bureau The Press Information Bureau, commonly abbreviated as PIB, is a nodal agency of the Government of India under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Based in National Media Centre, New Delhi, Press Information Bureau disseminates informati ...

(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 the Ghatak and

HAL AMCA The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is a planned Indian single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather fifth-generation stealth, multirole combat aircraft being developed for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. The aircraft is being des ...

. The

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

is also interested in the project, and is keen on acquiring deck based UCAVs for future aircraft carriers and Landing Platform Docks (LPD). The ADE and DRDO are prepared to start building a full-scale model of the Ghatak stealth UCAV after funds are allocated for the Ghatak program.

Stealth Wing Flying Testbed (SWiFT)

Development of a scaled down technology demonstrator of Ghatak UCAV, called ''Stealth Wing Flying Testbed'' (SWiFT), began in 2020. The programme was sanctioned in 2016 with a funding of . 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. A total of 2 prototypes have been developed. The first prototype features a

design while the second features 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, sta ...

. The prototypes are also designated as the Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator. The airframe, undercarriage and entire flight control and avionics systems used for the UAV were developed indigenously. The SWiFT UAV has a length of 4 metres and a wingspan of 5 metres. The weight of Swift UAV is around 1 tonne, and it uses a

NPO Saturn UEC NPO Saturn, PJSC () 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 Eastern Bloc aircraft, such as the Tu ...

36MT or TRDD-50MT

engine. Apart from being a precursor for technology development related to Ghatak project, SWiFT could also be developed as separate project under unmanned

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is the pilot of a secondary aircraft providing support or protection to a primary aircraft in a potentially dangerous situation, traditionally flying in formation to the side and slightly behind the primary craft. The t ...

bomber program. The ground trials of SWiFT UAV began in June 2021, picture and videos of it carrying out taxi trials surfaced on 29 October 2021. The second prototype (tailfin configuration) of the SWiFT UAV 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. Ghatak Scaled Down Model at ASTE

On 15 December 2023, DRDO successfully demonstrated the flight trial of first SWiFT prototype (flying wing configuration) at

Chitradurga Aeronautical Test Range Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga is an out-door testing and evaluation facility set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) exclusively for unmanned and manned aircraft. The ATR is under the command of the Aeronautic ...

. For the test, the avionic systems were further improved, demonstrating the level of technological maturity and preparedness. This marked the seventh flight trial of the platform various developmental configurations following its debut flight in 2022. It features an advanced ground control station, real-time and hardware-in-loop simulation, and improved aerodynamic and control systems. Lightweight carbon prepreg composite material, created locally, was used to construct the body. Fiber interrogators are infused into the composite structure in order to monitor health. With the use of onboard sensor data fusion and

GAGAN The GPS-aided GEO augmented navigation (GAGAN) is an implementation of a regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) by the Government of India. It is a system to improve the accuracy of a GNSS receiver by providing reference signals. ...

receivers, autonomous landing has been demonstrated to be possible from any runway with documented coordinates, negating the requirement for ground radars, infrastructure, or pilots.

Notes

References

External links

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