DRDO Ghatak

Ghatak is an autonomous stealthy unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation for the Indian Air Force. The design work on the UCAV is to be carried out by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). "Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA)" was a tentative name for the UCAV. Details of the project are classified.
The UCAV will be capable of releasing missiles, bombs and precision-guided munitions. The programme is in its project definition stage. The design is in line with what former DRDO chief controller for Aeronautics said in 2007, that India's combat drone would be a stealthy flying-wing concept aircraft with internal weapons bay and a turbofan engine.
First flight of a scaled down testbed is scheduled in 2021 and that of a full scale prototype is expected in 2024-25.
Description.
Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA) was a tentative name for an Indian UCAV project, but was eventually called the "Ghatak" UCAV.
The ADA describes the UCAV as a "self-defending high-speed reconnaissance UAV with weapon firing capability". The UCAV will cruise at medium altitude and will be capable of carrying two or more guided strike weapons with on-board sensors for targeting and weapon guidance.
The flight control system and data link packages of the UCAV will be created by ADA and Defence Electronics Application Laboratory.
DRDO's Chief Controller, R&D (aeronautics), Dr Prahlada said, "Capable of flying at altitudes of and weighing less than 15 tonnes, the UCAVs will have rail-launching for the missiles, bombs and PGMs (precision-guided munitions) they will carry." In 2015 Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar informed Rajya Sabha that UCAV will be powered by a dry Kaveri engine variant, which will have a thrust of 52 Kilonewton. It is said to employ a fluid thrust vectoring method
Development.
The Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft was a feasibility study started in 2009 with a budget of and successfully completed in April 2013.
Initial funding of for the project was sanctioned by the Government of India in May 2016.
As of March 2017, a full-scale model was being built for testing.
A technology demonstrator called "Stealth Wing Flying Testbed" (SWiFT) is being developed by Aeronautical Development Agency and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. It is intended to develop technologies required in the final "Ghatak" UCAV. A prototype of the SWIFT is expected to be flight-tested by 2021 with a NPO Saturn 36MT turbofan engine.
In Q4 of 2020, a small version of delta wing UAV was developed by ADA and IISc and test flown in Hosur. The UAV utilised a microjet engine and attained a maximum velocity of 190 kmph during flight.
See also.
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era