India's indigenous UCAV ‘Aura’ taking shape in DRDO labs

[rockstarIN]

NEW DELHI (BNS): India’s premier defence agency DRDO is developing an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), which it has named ‘Aura’.

Three DRDO laboratories – the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the Aeronautical Development Establishments (ADE) and the Defence Avionics and Research Establishment (DARE) – have joined hands to design and develop Aura.

The flight control system and data link packages of Aura will be designed and developed jointly by ADE and Defence Electronic Application Laboratory, Dehradun, according to Technology Focus, a bi-monthly journal published by DRDO.

The unmanned aircraft will fly at altitudes of 3,000 feet with payloads. It will have short take-off and landing capability on prepared runway, the journal said, elaborating on the combat drone’s key features.

Earlier in September, P S Subramanyam, project director and chief of ADA, had said that all technologies required for the UCAV had been identified, and the most important of them were its flying wing and stealth technology.

The combat drone, which will be able to detect and identify targets, and even fire weapons at them, will be controlled with command and control centres (CCC) spread across the country, DRDO Chief, V K Saraswat had revealed last year.

Meanwhile, the capability of the advanced Laser Guidance Bomb kit ‘Sudarshan’, which has been designed to improve the accuracy of air-to-ground bombing by Indian Air Force, has been enhanced.

“The development of the (LGB) kit has matured to the level of guiding the bomb within 10 m CEB (Circular Error Probability) from its otherwise 400 m to 1000 m fall-off the target.

“Indian Air Force has shown keen interest in buying hundreds of these kits. The extension of kit’s capability to further increase its range using global positioning system
(GPS) INS is going on,” the Technology Focus reports.

 

[AMCA]

Wonderful News Buddy, So is AURA a Stealth UCAV??

 

[rockstarIN]

It looks really stealthy design...

 

[MAFIAN GOD]

AURA looks just like B-2 Spirit.
Looks cool and stealthy.

 

[rockstarIN]

I have one more pix from internet

AURA (Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft)

 

[rockstarIN]

Why a UCAV?

Longer CAP: Fully Autonomous Unmanned Combat aircraft will have longer endurance in war or in conflict zone since everything is controlled by on board computers level of efficiency from take off to landing will be same ,fatigue and stress factors will be negligible since pilot is absent .

Design of UCAV: it has been openly discussed and told by Aviation community that design of aircraft’s is limited to “Human endurance “ UCAV will always have design advantages over manned aircraft’s even if they are stealthy in nature, risk to pilots live in combat zone is also reduced since UCAV will not need one, another major advantage will weight since UCAV will not require any pilot-support systems this will reduce weight in the aircraft and will enable it to better utilizes space for other purpose , which in turn can reduce size of the airframe of the aircraft , with same payload that a manned aircraft might have .

Lower R&D Cost: Why many of the European Countries are engaged in development of UCAV on other hand same countries are cutting down their own defense budgets in time of recession in their Economy? that Simple, development of new 5 Gen Fighter aircraft will be tremendous pressure on already shaky economic of this countries and since many of them will be operating American –European Jointly developed F-35 soon, need for a new manned 5th Gen aircraft have disappeared and many of them have been actively working on UCAV which will have half the cost for development of a stealthy Fighter or Bomber aircraft, but also be cheaper to operate in future since it will also reduce training of pilots and support crew.

---------- Post added at 04:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:55 PM ----------

Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle Technological Challenges for India?

Well India has taken baby steps for the development of its own Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for surveillance but not to be fooled , almost each and every lab of DRDO and HAL has been working on different types of UAV from Hand held battle field UAV to be operated by foot soldiers to larger MALE ,HALE type of UAV’s for Countries armed forces .
sharing of many of the technology or spin offs from this program will help ADA help in development of AURA UCAV’s ,other than this following new developments needs to take place for UCAV .

*Reconfigurable control station for multi Situational operations.

*Development and integration off-board/on-board sensors, weapon targeting, and load outs.

*Battle management sensors for better Situation Awareness among similar or other UCAV.

*Full autonomy Mission computers which will enable it to think for its self in the whole assigned missions.

 

[AMCA]

Should Look something Like this

 

[Laughing Buddha]

LAKSHYA

LAKSHYA is a surface/ship launched high subsonic reusable aerial target system, which provides a realistic simulation of enemy aircraft threat to artillery crews for training in firing of air to air and surface to air weapons. Zero length launcher and parachute based recovery system allows LAKSHYA to be launched from land or ship and be recovered safely on land or sea. Ground control station and telemetry station allows pilotless control of aircraft and real time data acquisition. It is boosted from a simple zero length launcher by a solid propellant rocket motor, and sustained by a turbojet engine in flight. It carries two bodies with a tow length of 1.5 kms each: having radar, IR and visual signature augmentation. These tow bodies are used as targets for training land or ship based missiles or gun crews in weapon engagement. The LAKSHYA is recovered by a parachute system either over sea or land. Under a limited series production programme, ADE has delivered 3 LAKSHYA Air Vehicles Squadrons and 3 sets of grand equipments to Airforce, Navy and Army. Till now, more than 200 LAKSHYA launches have been carried out by ADE and the user services. LAKSHYA has been successfully deployed to evaluate indigenous and imported missile systems.

NISHANT-Battle Field Surveillance UAV

NISHANT is an all composite, low speed battle field Surveillance UAV conceived and designed with mobility as an important requirement. The UAV is launched using a Hydro Pneumatic Launcher and recovered with Aero Conical Parachute and impact attenuation system. The high degree of automation built into the system reduces piloting skill requirements to a minimum during critical phases of launch and recovery. Target Acquisition and tracking is done by electro optic payloads (CCTV & FLIR), mounted on a stabilized steerable platform. A sophisticated image processing system is used for analyzing the images obtained by the electro-optic image sensors. An onboard integrated digital flight management system is used for flight control and autonomous navigation of the UAV. NISHANT user trials have been successfully completed and the UAV is in production. Payloads like Low Light Level TV Camera, ELINT, COMINT, LD and LRF can also be fitted on this UAV platform.

The initial development efforts have helped DRDO to build up UAV related technology base in the areas of propulsion system integration, launch and recovery, flight control and navigation, communication, payload development and operation, ground control station, image processing and UAV simulation.

Precision Stabilized Electro-Optic (EO) Payload System

ADE has developed precision stabilized Electro-Optic (EO) Payload System development under the project titled ‘Reconnaissance and Surveillance System for Manned & Unmanned Aircraft’. The System comprises of a precision 2-axes-4-gimbal stabilized payload assembly (GPA Mk-IV), which houses two Electro-Optic Payloads to carry out reconnaissance and surveillance missions during day and night. The EO Payloads include a daylight TV camera with appropriate zoom optics for daytime operation and a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) System operating in 3-5 um MWIR region capable of imaging targets during day/night/adverse weather conditions. The main aim of the gimbal assembly is to direct/orient the EO payload line-of-sight (LOS) in any direction within the lower hemisphere irrespective of the flight direction of the air vehicle. Additionally, gimbal assembly stabilizes the payload LOS against aircraft jitter and vibrations. The stabilization accuracy of the Gimbal Payloads Assembly is better than 30uRad, which ensures detection of tank sized targets at a range in excess 17 km and recognition at range of 6 km.

RUSTOM UAV

DRDO has drawn up a road map for the development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for the three Services following a series of interactions with the armed forces. It has identified a long-term need for developing an indigenous Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV called RUSTOM-H. The MALE UAV is required to operate at medium to long ranges and gather near real time, high quality imagery (IMINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT) from areas of interest. ADE has taken up a technology initiative project – RUSTOM 1, to develop critical technologies for MALE UAV.

RUSTOM 1: Technology Initiative for MALE UAV

. Conventional Take off & Landing

• Service Ceiling : 25000 ft

• Endurance : 12 – 15 hrs

• Cruise Speed : 150 Km/hr

• Range : 250 Kms

• Payload : 75 Kg (Electro – Optics)

• Wing span : 7.9 m & Length : 5.1 m

• All up weight : 750 Kg

RUSTOM-H

RUSTOM-H is a medium altitude long endurance UAV with mission capability, proposed to be developed indigenously for the armed forces. The technical challenge lies in the design and development of light weight airframe and systems that operate reliably for long durations.

The range of advanced technologies and systems that will be developed include the following:-

• Aerodynamic configurations, High aspect ratio wing, Composite airframe integrated with propulsion system, De-icing system for wings

• Highly reliable systems with built-in redundancy for flight critical systems like flight control and navigation, data links, power management, - and mission critical payload management system

• Digital Flight Control and Navigation System, Automatic Take off and Landing (ATOL)

• Digital communication technologies for realizing data links to control and operate the mission and relay UAVs

. Payloads with high resolution and precision stabilized platforms.

Specifications:

• Conventional Take off and Landing

• Service Ceiling : 35000 ft

• Endurance : >24hrs

• Cruise Speed : 150 Km / hr

• Range : up to 250 Kms

• Payloads : 350 Kg (Electro – Optics, RWR, IFF, SAR, MPR, ELINT, COMMINT)

• Wing span : 20.6 m

• Length : 9.5 m

• All up weight : 1800 Kg

 

[Illusive]

Does anyone knows by which year we may see one of them.....or a prototype atleast.

 

[sancho]

Does anyone knows by which year we may see one of them.....or a prototype atleast.

If we do it alone, it will take quiet some time, because even in the UAV field we are not really top of the line, not to mention that AURA should have stealth capabilities to and we have to build up that kind of know how first. I guess a co-development with Israel would be the best idea.

 

[Yeti]

wow cool name and cool design, I agree with Sancho we should rope in Israel for this project they have years of experiance in UAV development.

 

[SEAL]

Plz do create new thread if Indian 100% indigenous UCAV get tires and paint job.

 

[RoYaL~GuJJaR]

Plz do create new thread if Indian 100% indigenous UCAV get tires and paint job.

Please do create a new Thread for Trolls like you...


On topic :-

Lookin Awesome..! I hope it will turn into reality as soon as possible..

 

[sathya]

I have one more pix from internet

AURA (Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft)

THANKS FOR THE PIC,,, looks awesome

 

[sathya]

no bomb bay and wheels.... worrying a little