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Indian Stealth Bomber No Longer a Secret

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On May 31, the chief of India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) Vijay Saraswat was guest of honour at a little-known aerospace seminar in Linkoping, Sweden. The missile scientist took a spin in a Swedish Saab Gripen fighter jet, giving local journalists a fun photo-opportunity. But nestled in an elaborate presentation Saraswat later made at the seminar was something that had never been seen before: The first ever design images of an Indian military project that’s been officially designated secret, one that neither drdo nor any other arm of the Ministry of Defence will say anything about. The pictures were of the Indian Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (IUSAV), codenamed Aura, an advanced unmanned stealth bomber that resembles classified experimental Cold War aircraft rather than anything India has ever been known to attempt.
While the prospect and development of such an aircraft is enormously complicated, iusav is being built for a simple mission profile: Take off under remote control by a ground crew, enter enemy airspace undetected and virtually invisible to enemy radars, deploy strike weapons against designated targets and return to base. In one official document, the Aura is described as a “unmanned self-defending reconnaissance aircraft”, indicating that it will also serve as a spy platform capable of evading missiles if fired upon. drdo aims to deliver the highly complex stealth bomber to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in seven to eight years.
The secret Aura programme currently functions on a
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100-crore start-up budget for the design and definition phase. A top officer associated with the programme indicates that the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA)-a consortium of agencies including drdo labs and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd-was hoping to complete a major chunk of the complex project for just under a billion dollars. drdo has its most complex and daunting aerospace challenge at hand, considering that the specific technologies that would make the IUSAV useful are areas that India has little or no expertise in. These include flying wing aerodynamics, RADAR absorbent paint and structural materials, remotely deployable smart weapons for surgical strikes, and most importantly, the intricate and unassailable communications and data-link architecture required to control an aircraft with a lethal payload from hundreds of miles away.
If the Indian aerospace establishment’s recent track record with indigenous aircraft is any indication, IUSAV appears to be an audacious pipe dream. DRDO’s own defence to such a claim is that unmanned combat drones comprise secret propriety technology that no country will ever share with India. And while that’s true, France, Sweden and the UK have all started discussions with DRDO in an attempt to push their technologies into the Aura programme.
Indeed, IAF, which will be the primary operator of iusav, has conveyed in no uncertain terms that it wants a platform with as little foreign assistance as possible, and strictly no foreign help in any of the critical design areas and sub-systems. This stricture springs from the force’s reasonable fear that foreign governments or contractors could withhold critical after-sales help during a conflict or war. In March, Defence Minister A.K. Antony informed Parliament that a modified version of India’s troubled, unfinished Kaveri jet engine could power iusav. Several academic institutes, including IIT-Kanpur, have also been roped in for specific areas of critical research for use in IUSAV.
DRDO is working on other totally new areas that include serpentine jet intakes critical to stealth performance and cool exhausts to suppress the platform’s infrared give-away, enclosed weapons bays and conformal sensors and antennae that will perform their crucial functions without compromising on the low observability.
If everything goes as planned, an off-limits section of ada in Bangalore, headed by senior aeronautical scientist Biju Uthup, hopes to begin testing a prototype of IUSAV by 2016. As things stand, IUSAV is only the latest in a healthy list of similar ‘flying wing’ stealth drones being developed across the world.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/i.../1/201950.ht
 

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Naval Rotatory UAV

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The NRUAV is aimed at enhancing the Indian Navy’s capabilities for real-time ISR, day and night Over the horizon targeting,battle and damage assessment,and communications relay. Jointly built by Israel Aerospace Industries’Malatdivision and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.,the system will be based on the legacy Chetak (oldAlouetteIII) helicopters for ship-borne unmanned surveillance.The Vehicle’s ELTA EL/M–2022 multi-mission radar will be designed for detection and tracking of multiple targets at an operational ceiling of 15,000 feet.The project is anticipated to generate signficant revenue lines for some Indian contractors operating as Tier1 suppliers to HAL, specifically for engineering design,
cabling and harnesses and integration.

MALAT unveiled here the Maritime Naval Rotary Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (NRUAV) being developed with under cooperation with India. In fact, the platform for the first NRUAV is the Chetak (Alouette III), widely used by the Indian Navy. The helicopter could be deployed for mission of 6 hours, up to a distance of 120 km from the launching vessel.

Employed as an 'elevated mast', NRUAV can extend the vessel's coverage over a much larger area, providing early warning and detection of aircraft, and cruise missiles, surface vessels and even subsurface activity. For example, its radar could easily detect a patrol boat from 80 nautical miles, automatically detect and track surface targets and effectively handle 64 airborne targets. Being transformed into a pilotless platform, the helicopter will be equipped with multiple payloads, for multi-mission performance, enabling aerial shipborne resupply, maritime surveillance and other missions to continue regardless on weather conditions.

It has been demonstrated that automatic landing, relying on closely coordinating the helicopter's flight controls in reference to the, ship's landing deck rolling under high sea conditions is safer than a pilot controlled landing under such conditions. The NRUAV features automatic take-off and landing from aviation capable ships and from unprepared landing sites.

Among the sensor suites that can be carried by the NRUAV are different Maritime Surveillance Radar systes, capable of surface and counter-submarine operation, resolution sharpening, synthetic apperture radar (SAR) and Inverse SAR modes. Electro-optical payloads are also carried. Airborne intelligence also accommodate electronic – a SIGNIT/COMINT Suite that can be carried on UAVs, like the EL/K-7071 COMINT and EL/K-7071 SIGINT systems EL/L-8385 Electronic Support measures (ESM). Among the optronic payloads, stabilized Plug-In Optronic Payload (POP) Family on display includes POP300LR Observer, Mini-POP and Multi-Mission Optronic Stabilized Payload – MOSP3000. The entire sensor suit is controlled from the ship's command information center (CIC).
http://aviotech.com/pdf/Aviotech-Tho...ugust_2011.pdf
http://www.geospatialworld.net/uploa...cember2011.pdf
IAI Introduces a Naval Rotary UAV at IMDEX 09
 
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SOLAR POWERED UAV

India is planning to develop a solar-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and scouting for a foreign partner for collaboration.

The proposed solar-based UAV would have much longer flight duration - as high as 15 days, compared to conventional UAV, according to sources in the Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

"We are looking for collaboration with a foreign partner to develop this UAV", an ADE official said.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has revealed that India plans to develop solar-powered unmanned flying machines with the capability of remaining airborne for at least a month in all weather conditions.

With specially-designed solar panels to keep it airborne even in nights and cloudy weather conditions the UAV would be capable of providing real-time information and data of the area through a secure data link.

India plans to develop solar-powered UAVs
India plans to develop solar-powered UAV - Brahmand.com
 
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I think a single engine pushing propeller design is a better idea for armed drones!

This is what we did in S-129:

Twin engined design makes more sound & RCS!

What do you think?

Twin engine can also mean more payload, and/or higher altitude.
 
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So , we will hear about a turboprop monster soon !

Or we can use the turbofan engine of the Nirbhay cruise missile.

If you use it in domestic areas there will be no problem:)

Even if we use it enemy areas, it'll fly away from the range of MANPADs, so medium to long range weapons are the only options to bring it down. Then again, if they fire the missiles, that'll give away the position of enemy air defense systems. UAVs can be used as a bait. ;)
 
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This is great!

It shows the project is live & going forward!
Yeah,this is for AURA project.This unmanned stealth bomber will use a gas turbine engine of 40-60kn thrust which will be derived from Kaveri engine.
So if we are not able to make this engine then this project is doomed.
Although the testing of prototype was expected in 2016/17 but many scienists have made it clear that not to expect anything before 18/19.

PS-Some more updates.

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