SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.
With the recent successful test of the “Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator” by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India’s plans to develop a bigger Indian Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (IUSAV) are taking shape with airframe, undercarriage, and entire flight control and avionics systems likely to mature by 2025 including its Kaveri Dry engine.
IUSAV under development will not only adopt “flying wing” stealth design but also many of the next generation capabilities in electronic warfare to survive in highly contested air environments. idrw.org has been told that the Indian Navy is closely monitoring the IUSAV program that could lead to the development of a deck-based IUSAV variant that could operate from an aircraft carrier in near future.
IUSAV will have very long-range endurance and range like a HALE Class UAV and will be able to operate even if it’s far away from its mothership. IUSAV will not only be able to carry heavy air to surface payload but also can be armed with air-to-air missiles for its protection. IUSAV will team with 5th gen manned aircraft for insertion attacks in highly defended targets to inflict maximum damages at the start of the war.
Kaveri Dry engine certification is expected by 2024-25 as most of the niggling issues with the engine have been ironed out over the year and the engine has demonstrated 46kN class of thrust repeatedly on ground-based facilities. Kaveri engine program is currently waiting for High altitude trials that were to be done on board a Russian IL-76 Flying Engine Testbed aircraft.
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