I can do the same in China! This is a sentence that India has never forgotten when developing advanced weapons, but it is also a sentence that India has never been able to achieve. India has followed china and has launched a number of high-tech projects such as advanced fighter jets, main battle tanks, helicopter gunships, rockets, satellites, manned spaceflight, and lunar exploration, always taking catching up with and surpassing China's technical level as its goal, but in exchange for repeated failures. However, India, which has been "defeated and fought", has not given up its efforts, and this time, India has set its sights on drones. On October 25, the Aviation Development Authority of India (ADA) released to the world photos of India's stealth drone demonstrator test photos, which showed that India's new drone was sliding at high speed, which seemed to be not far from the first flight.
The picture shows the high-speed taxiing of a new type of drone in India.
The biggest feature of India's newly announced UAV is the use of flying wing layout, which is the first time india has developed such an aircraft. Surprisingly, india does not seem to have wind tunnels, supercomputers and other equipment that can verify this aerodynamic layout, and India has little experience in developing aircraft with flying wings. Therefore, India seems to plan to start with a small aircraft, test the mature aerodynamic layout step by step, and then enlarge the fuselage. Even if it is a drone, it is to first build a demonstration aircraft of equal proportions, and then gradually enlarge it into a full version of the drone.
The shrunken drone, called the Stealth Flying Wing Flight Test Bench (SWiFT), is planned to be used by India as a scale-up demonstrator for the future Ghatak unmanned combat aircraft, which is only 4 meters long and has a wingspan of only 5 meters, making it a "large model aircraft". As early as last October, India's Kamphur University, which participated in the development of the "Deathbreaker" drone, intentionally or unintentionally exposed India's latest drone in a promotional video. Many countries believe that India wants to develop a stealth combat drone that can actually be used, which is technically difficult to achieve, and even believes that India cannot develop successfully.
However, no one expected that just 1 year later, India began to test the reduced version of the "Deadlier" drone, and India really wanted to seriously challenge this high-end technology this time. Since the high-speed taxi test is the last test item of an aircraft before it firsts, India's "Stealth Flying Wing Flight Test Bench" (SWiFT) is likely to be the first flight, perhaps between the end of this year and the beginning of next year.
The picture shows a model of an Indian stealth drone demonstrator.
Although it is only a reduced version of the UAV weighing only 1 ton, India's stealth UAV demonstrator is still equipped with relatively complete avionics equipment, such as photoelectric observation equipment, UHF/VF (U/V) antenna, C-band datalink, airspeed tube, etc., in other words, the first flight test will probably be this UAV, because these electronic devices are equipped to support the remote control and communication of the UAV, and the airspeed tube is also designed to collect data in flight.
India's "Stealth Flying Wing Flight Test Platform" (SWiFT) UAV is very lightweight, so he is only equipped with a Saturn 36MT small thrust turbofan engine imported from Russia, you know, this small engine was originally equipped with a Russian KH-59M air-to-surface missile, which shows how small india's aircraft is. For example, Japan has developed an equally scaled down version of the F-3 fighter - "Shinshin", which weighs only about 8 tons, and does not even have a radar, which can only play a role in verifying the aerodynamic layout.
India's small drone is the same, in addition to verifying the rationality of the aerodynamic layout, stealth performance, I am afraid it will not be able to verify more technology. You know, India is planning to position the "Deadlier" UAV as a large UAV, its full version of the maximum take-off weight of more than 15 tons, reaching the level of light fighter, the UAV will be paired with India's self-developed AMCA fifth-generation fighter combat, its technical complexity is far from a 1-ton UAV can complete the verification.
Indian media proudly pointed out that if India's "life-grabber" flying wing layout stealth drone can be successfully developed, then India may become the sixth country in the world to develop a similar aircraft. The first five are the X-47B of the United States, the "Neuron" of France, the "Thor" of the United Kingdom, the Attack-11 of our country and the S-70 Hunter-B drone of Russia. Considering that the X-47B, Neuron, Thor and other three UAV projects have been stranded, research and development has stalled, so only the two major countries in the world, China and Russia, are still promoting stealth drone projects.
Once India's stealth attack drone is successfully developed, it will have extraordinary significance for India. First of all, the ability to develop such an advanced UAV shows that India's aviation technology has developed to a higher level, which is a shot in the arm for the development of India's military technology, after all, in recent years, India's research and development of Arjun tanks, LCA fighters, etc. have become synonymous with "failure" and "backwardness", and India urgently needs to prove its technical strength. Secondly, in the topographic environment of India's mountainous plateau, if there are advanced stealth drones that can be used, then the combat effectiveness of the Indian army and the ability to monitor the battlefield will be upgraded to a higher level.
The picture shows China's FH-97 stealth drone.
In addition, from the perspective of the trend of UAV development, he can be expected to become the main battle equipment on the battlefield, and even the main equipment. Whether in the Syrian battlefield or in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, drones have played a huge role, annihilating a large number of living forces on the ground, especially for anti-aircraft missiles and armored fighting vehicles. Therefore, as a country that aspires to become a military power, the development of advanced stealth drones and narrowing the gap with other major powers in the field of drones is a step that India must take, otherwise, in future wars, India may be out of adverse circumstances.
The picture shows the Russian hunter B stealth drone.
Can India's drones surpass our country? It still seems difficult. As the current UAV technology ranked first in the world, China is promoting the research and development of a variety of stealth UAVs, in addition to the attack -11 Sanda integrated UAV, there are WZ-8 hypersonic reconnaissance UAVs, FH-97 Sanda integrated stealth UAVs, dark arrow stealth unmanned fighters, etc., which can be called the country with the most stealth UAV projects and the most complete functions in the world. Although India takes China as a benchmark for catching up, the huge gap visible to the naked eye makes it impossible for Indian UAVs to reach the height of China's UAVs in the short term.
The picture shows the scenario of indian unmanned aerial vehicles and future five-generation aircraft working together.
China has not only developed unmanned aerial vehicles with different functions, but also begun the exploration of independent system operations of unmanned aerial vehicles, and the "swarm" combat mode is one of them. Because all of China's main battle equipment is based on domestic production and is equipped with China's three-service comprehensive data communication system, it is easy to form a large number of unmanned aerial vehicles into formations and fleets, and carry out operations in accordance with a unified plan.
The picture shows the U.S. X-47B drone, the world's first stealth drone.
For example, you can rely on the WZ-8 hypersonic stealth drone to complete the detection of enemy targets, and then guide the attack -11 stealth drone to complete the stealth assault, if there is an enemy fighter patrol in the airspace, you can also use the dark arrow drone to attack the air target. At the same time, the UAV can also cooperate with the manned fighter, which is also the technology developed by various military powers, the J-20 can act together with the attack-11, dark arrow and other unmanned aerial vehicles, the UAV is responsible for the wingman, can go forward to reconnoiter airspace, ground targets, and even attack the threatening air defense facilities to protect the safety of the J-20 fighter.
The picture shows China's attack-11 stealth drone.
All in all, although India is very serious about developing a stealth drone and wants to catch up with the world's most advanced level, it still has not changed the habit of loving "drawing cakes". In India's vision, everything is beautiful, in India's actions, everything is shrunk, and the products that are born are often problem-ridden and difficult to use normally. Therefore, whether India can finally complete the development of the "Lifebreaker" stealth drone, we still have to play a question mark, and we will wait and see!