India is working day and night on a project for the last year and under this project, we are preparing a very lethal and very dangerous weapon. You will be happy to know that India is very close to achieving it. A very big breakthrough has been achieved in this weapon project. India is now starting to prepare for the test. It is considered a very big revolution because the purpose of making this weapon is to replace fighter planes. All the countries of the world want a weapon that can replace fighter planes. Once this project is successful, there will be no need to keep fighter planes. Keeping and maintaining Fighter planes is a headache for the armies of the world. It’s costly, requires high maintenance, requires trained fighter pilots, maintenance staff, huge fuel costs etc. It goes up to around $150 million for a fighter plane to fly and fight. If all these can be replaced with something of the same capabilities but for fewer expenses, then that would be great. Isn’t it ?
That’s why India is making its own Loyal Wingman, Combat Air Teaming System (CATS). Other than India, America is the only country that is working on this. It is a manned+unmanned teaming. One Fighter plane and 5-6 drones flying together, controlled by the pilot of the fighter plane. All the warrior drones will be as capable of striking the enemy as the fighter plane, equipped with missiles and bombs. The most interesting part is, the whole swarm will be stealthy. The pilot of the fighter plane will be able to target multiple targets and defend his plane as well.
The unmanned wingman will be connected to a heavily-upgraded IAF Tejas fighter (called the MAX); pilots onboard will assign specific tasks to each of the unmanned drones which fly alongside the fighter. Unmanned wingman platforms can target enemy airfields, army installations, radar sites and enemy surface-to-air missile launchers. Tasks that are assigned to each drone will be through an indigenously developed two-way data link. Not only do they increase the spread of offensive firepower in each and every mission, they also reduce potential casualties because they are unmanned aircraft. Each drone is also equipped with its own radar and sensors, data from which is transmitted back to the Tejas fighter through the data link so that the pilots get a comprehensive situational picture of all the targets and threats in the area.
“Mothership for Air teaming eXploitation” (MAX), a modified two-seater variant of the HAL Tejas Mk-1A fighter jet designed to control a number of drones in flight.
The Warrior drone, a loyal wingman with stealth features, powered by the domestically-produced HTF7000 Turbofan Engine and carrying a pair of air-to-air missiles, ALFAs or laser-guided bombs in its two internal bays. With an active electronically scanned array (EASA) radar, Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) imaging system and electronic warfare suite, it could be used both as a forward-deployed scout for regular aircraft as well as for directly engaging enemy targets.
Earlier this year, India had shown its prototype to the world. Today the news has come that India has been successful in making the engine in-house and it will be tested soon. In any such project, making the perfect engine is 50% of the whole project. The other 50% is generally less complicated. So, it’s half job done for India.
Each unmanned Wingman Drone will cost around only $5 million and can be made ready in a month time. We need at least 42 squadrons of conventional fighter planes to properly guard the nation. But we are lacking on this part. Moreover, old planes are being retired regularly. At this juncture, this is a big boost to the firepower of the Indian Air Force.
