The Drone Acharya

The DRDO's advanced prototype for an indigenous combat-ready stealth drone takes wing

- Pradip R. Sagar

In the first week of January 2020, two MQ-9 Reaper drones took off from an airbase in Kuwait and travelled 600 km to hover over Baghdad international airport. Seconds after the green signal, the drones fired missiles IN to knock out two cars that were leaving the airport. The attack killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, head of Iran's Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chairman of Hashd alShaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces), an Iran-backed militia in Iraq. The Reapers' precision stunned the world.

Two and a half years later, India's defence scientists showed the world that the country too has the capability to carry out such precision strikes. The DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) announced that it has successfully tested a combat drone, also called the 'autonomous flying wing technology demonstrator' at the aeronautical test range in Karnataka's Chitradurga. The drone did not stay aloft for the full test time of an hour, but it was enough to send a message to the world about India's growing unmanned offensive capability.

Designed and developed by the DRDO's Bangaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), the Stealth Wing Flying Testbed (SWIFT) UAV is a technology demonstrator and a prototype (scaled-down version) for the upcoming unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) also known as the Ghatak combat drone. While the SWIFT weighs just one tonne, the Ghatak UCAV is expected to be 13 tonnes.

The SWIFT project was sanctioned in 2016 with barely Rs 70 crore in funds. Its main intent was to demonstrate and prove the stealth technology and high-speed landing technology in autonomous mode, says a defence scientist.

The SWIFT project was sanctioned in 2016 and got Rs 70 crore in funds with the proviso that it would demonstrate and prove the stealth technology