SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Rostec’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) showcased its latest Il-76MD-90? Heavy Transport Aircraft that is based on the iconic Il-76 with major improvements at the Aero India 2023 and has offered its Aerial Tanker Variant too to the Indian Air force (IAF).
IAF that is looking to retire the oldest lot of Il-76 Candid (Gajraj) Transport aircraft that it had procured in the early 80s post-2030 due to its age and obsolescence of the engines and avionics and Rostec is offering Il-76MD-90? which uses the same airframe and fuselage of IL-76 aircraft but now comes with a host of other improvements.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
CATS Max (Mothership for Air teaming eXploitation ) based on the Tejas Mk1, a twin-seater platform modified with the CATS interface to act as the mothership and data centre for execution and controlling of the CATS Mission is under design stages and the first flight of the CATS Max will be performed by 2024-25 timeframe claimed officials at the Aero India 2023.
CATS Max will have a Weapon System Officer (WSO) who will be controlling other CATS in destroying enemy installations and facilities. The CATS family consists of CATS OMCA (Optionally Manned Combat Aircraft ) to be used as a Decoy, CATS Warrior (UCAV), CATS Hunter (ALCM), Air Launched Flexible Asset-Swarm (ALFA-S) loitering munition, CATS Infinity, a high altitude pseudo satellite (HAPS), CATS HALE, for Wide area surveillance and strike mission.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Indian defence firm Cingularity Aerospace showcased it’s Aero India 2023 and according to company officials, it’s a Tandem wing configuration that allows it to carry twice the payload and comes with an AI function that allows it to visually scan the area for better situational awareness.
Tango Bravo comes with multiple choice of engines and can be equipped with a piston engine, turbine engine or a 4-stroke engine with the most efficient being the turbine engine for faster over the target area.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Rolls-Royce has reinstated its stand that it is ready to co-develop a new engine for India’s 5th generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program co-creating the intellectual property (IP) that goes into a new fighter engine.
Rolls-Royce claimed at Aero India that a new engine will be fully customized for India’s AMCA program with growth prospects for future next-generation fighter jets can be developed within a decade.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Bengaluru-based Newspace Research and Technologies Pvt Ltd is developing Ultra Small Guided Bomb (USGB) that can be used from the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Precision targeting capabilities.
USGB specifications were not revealed by Newspace but it is under development to be used from Short-range Tactical UAVs or Swarm drones.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Bharat Earth Movers Limited along with Bengaluru-based CDSpace Robotics Pvt Ltd has unveiled VTOL(vertical take-off and landing) UAV that the company claims can be used for Border Patrol and surveillance to Land-based Maritime ISR, Ship self Defense and offshore security.
VTOL UAV has an MTOW of 50kg and can carry a 5kg payload with an endurance of 6+ hours powered by IC engines. VTOL UAVs have an operational altitude of a sea level of 4000m and come with multi-redundant architecture for the safest flight operations.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Next Gen Supersonic Trainer Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer (HLFT)-42 revealed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Aero India 2023 turns out to be a bigger and more capable fighter than Tejas Mk1 in almost all basic features of the jets. Specification acquired of the jet by the idrw.org makes HLFT-42 jet bigger than Tejas Mk1 in all dimensions that can carry more fuel and weapons payload.
HLFT-42 has a maximum takeoff weight of 16.5 tons while Tejas Mk1 has demonstrated a maximum takeoff weight of 14 tons. HLFT-42 has 11 hardpoints, 2 on the wingtip, two beneath the port-side air intake, one under the fuselage (centreline station) and three hardpoints under each wing, while Tejas Mk1 has only 8 hardpoints.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Bengaluru-based Newspace Research and Technologies Pvt Ltd has proposed to develop CATS Max (Mothership for Air teaming eXploitation ) which they claim will be a bigger and improved high-speed, high-altitude unmanned combat aerial vehicle that can function like a mothership and data centre for the CATS Warrior, CATS Air Launched Flexible Assets (ALFA) and CATS Hunter and other platforms that are under consideration.
idrw.org has been told at Aero India 2023 that CATS Max will be a bigger stealthy platform that can also be used as a standoff delivery platform without exposing the aircraft and manned piloted aircraft in strike missions over the enemy airspace.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Next Gen Supersonic Trainer Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer (HLFT)-42 revealed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Aero India 2023 will be developed technologies that are to be developed for the Tejas Mk2 and AMCA Program as the proposed Next Gen Supersonic Trainer will be going through further design refinements and other improvements and should be ready after 2030.
idrw.org has been told that the HLFT-42 will be a well-capable combat trainer that will provide real-combat experience to the new pilots before they embark to fly 5th-generation fighter jets like AMCA.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Bengaluru-based Newspace Research and Technologies Pvt Ltd is developing Tactical Interdiction and Attack Air Vehicle (TIA-AV ) that will be India’s Hunter Killer low-observable, multi-role autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is under development for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
idrw.org at Aero India 2023 was told that the TIA-AV can be used for deep air support missions and also for Intelligence, surveillance, and target acquisition roles including Electronic Intelligence (ELINT).
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Godrej Aerospace has won an order from the Gas Turbine Research Engine Center (GTRE) a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lab to manufacture eight modules of six engines with the first engine starting delivered in late 2024 while the company plans to complete the deliveries will by August 2025.
Godrej Aerospace will be manufacturing a Dry Kaveri engine that has a 46kN Class of thrust and is been developed to be used on the Unmanned Stealth Strike Aircraft Platform and also on the Unmanned Fighter jet program.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) proposed Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer (HLFT-42) aircraft will come equipped with AESA Radar and weapons that can be used as a light fighter trainer fully combat capable but also will be highly customizable for an export-oriented market where it will be scalable, interoperable and configurable as per customers requirements.
Switching to a metal airframe means it is durable, light, and relatively inexpensive but ditching composites (mostly carbon-epoxy) has added advantages since it will reduce airframe cost by over 30% and aircraft can be priced competitively in the International market.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Netra Mk2 Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&CS) Mk2 program that will be mounted on Ex-Air India Airbus A321 aircraft will come with 4D Active array AESA radar mounted into the dorsal system that is based on the active aperture technology with 240° coverage on two radiating apertures on either side of the A321.
But the addition of an AESA Radar on the nose cone of the aircraft will give additional 30° coverage but, likely, it will also be equipped with a dual swashplate that will give a detection range of 300 ° coverage.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
According to a report in the ” Economic times”, India’s Indian Air Force, and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) are close to agreeing on technical parameters of the Air Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) program that can be launched and recovered from Transport aircraft like C-130J Medium Transport Aircraft.
Both countries will hold Joint IP Rights so that further development of the ALUAV is not hindered in any way as each country can develop future alterations of the same without needing each other’s permission.
Continue readingSOURCE: SATYAJEET KUMAR/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG
Subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) flew for the first time exactly 20 years ago in 2003 but it has still not entered into production. HJT-36 Sitara which was to replace ageing Kiran Stage-II Trainer aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF) nearly a decade ago is nowhere close to entering production and frankly, no one cares about the program anymore as focus and training doctrine in the last few decades has changed and shift now is clearly to have a supersonic jet trainer and days of sub-sonic trainer jets are more or less over.
HAL Claims HLFT-42 is the ‘Next Gen Supersonic Trainer’ that is under development and the plan is to equip it with modern avionics like Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite, Infrared Search and Track (IRST) with Fly by Wire (FBW) control system.
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