India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has shown the concept of a helicopter drone called RUAV designed to carry load in high altitude regions.

The concept shown at Aero India 2021 can be fitted with a surveillance payload too if desired. It can carry around 150 kg payload.

The drone is slated to enter detailed design stage soon and is based on the Indian Army requirement for a high altitude drone that can carry payload to front line troops.

HAL executives told Defenseworld.net that the RUAV concept was based on an Indian Army requirement for a multi-purpose drone that could take off and land in high altitude on helicopter landing strips. HAL’s specialty being in helicopters, executing this project would be relatively easy, they said.

For this, vendors for engine and other systems had already been identified. The drone is planned to be put to test over the next 1-2 years.

Endurance drones have proven to be very useful in high altitude regions. In mid-2020, China revealed its AR-500C helicopter drone capable of taking off from an elevation of 5,000 meters and a flight ceiling of 6,700 meters. It has an endurance of five hours, maximum speed of 170 kilometers an hour with a maximum takeoff weight of 500 kilograms.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Thursday unveiled a leap in technology of teaming up unmanned aircraft and vehicles with manned jets similar to the US project of skyborg. It will enhance Indian military strike capabilities.

Teamed with a manned aircraft known as mother-ship, the unmanned aircraft will leverage autonomy to disrupt and defeat adversaries in contested environments.

The technology named Combined Air Teaming System (CATS) will have a mother ship, operating from faraway, and four autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle known as CATS Warrior with a capacity to carry out strike stealthily entering 700 kilometres inside enemy territory. These unmanned aerial vehicles are capable of autonomous functions and will also have all the manoeuvring capabilities.

“We are developing the project where the manned aircraft will operate within the boundary and the unmanned aircraft will enter the enemy zone and can carry out strikes deep inside the enemy territory,” said Arup Chatterjee, Director (Engineering and R&D) at HAL.

He said that it is a dream project of HAL and very futuristic.

Elaborating upon the system, Chatterjee said the system will have a mother-ship carrying components like Hunter and Alpha. The mother ship which is a manned aircraft will be in the Indian territory. “The mother ship can be LCA or Jaguar or other combat manned aircraft,” Chatterjee said.

The CATS Hunter attached to the mother-ship, which has a deep penetration straight way strike capability, can go deep into the enemy territory and carry out strikes.

At present, the CATS Alpha is a glider and has capabilities to carry four, eight, sixteen or twenty four swarm drones. Alpha has can glide 50 to 100 kilometres into the enemy territory and once it reaches the mission zone, swarm drones comes out.

These 24 drones, around 25 kg, can carry smaller drones of each weighing 5 kg and can go deep into the enemy territory to strike.

All these are controlled by a mother-ship stationed faraway.

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