“The project is fully positioned as a futuristic platform. It draws very little from any existing technologies in the country, everything we’re doing here is fundamental. And that is why it is so important.” said an IIT-K student
“Livefist” military website recently reported that under the background of all countries in the world competing to develop stealth fighter planes, India has also started developing an indigenous stealth aircraft. Although the current progress is very basic, defence experts believe that this still represents an advancement in research and technological development in India.
It is reported that the stealth drone is codenamed "Swift" short for "Stealth WIng Flying Testbed", the drone adopts a flying wing design. The initial design and development of the combat aircraft is entrusted with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The SWiFT will begin proving technologies and parameters for an unmanned weaponised aircraft approximately eight times its size. The big final unmanned combat aircraft (UCAV) named "Ghatak" has a seven-year deadline to lift off. It is expected to use the "36MT" turbofan engine developed by the Russian Saturn Design Bureau. the first flight is planned from 2018 to 2019. However, later prototypes will be powered by a dry (without afterburners) Kaveri engines. It will be India's first drone that can launch precision weapons.
ADA the nodal agency developing the combat aircraft noted in its annual report “The UCAV aircraft and engine technology is highly classified and is unlikely that any country would share this technology with India. Hence it is inescapable requirement to develop an Indian UCAV and its engine considering the future combat warfare scenario. The development of an unmanned combat aircraft is a “national imperative” toward self reliance in aerospace technologies. The committee strongly recommended the sanction of the project at the earliest to be at par with other developed countries.”
According to reports, a team at DRDO is responsible for the stealth drone project. India currently allocates about US $8 million for initial research and development and manufacture of a scale verification model. DRDO Chief, Dr. Christopher said that India's development of stealth drones has not been shared by any foreign technology, but the specific information on the new drone needs to be kept confidential.
Finally, Dr Christopher adds, “The shape of Ghatak is totally dependent on us. The engine is totally dependent on what is requested by the IAF. We need to always come to an understanding on that as soon as possible. Otherwise there is always a debate and question on what we anticipated and what we gained.”
NOTE by Livefist: Since the subject matter pertains to a classified Indian project, the information and data was vetted by Livefist through their government sources before posting
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