_Vinayak Barot
The Indian Airforce, The fourth strongest airforce in the world after the US, Russia, is now working to increase the strength of the forces in upcoming years. The Indian Airforce will have the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) in the next few years.
According to the media report, The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is on track to conduct flight testing of a loyal wingman program by 2024. The project, known as the Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) ‘Warrior’, began in 2018 and was unveiled at Aero India 2021.
CATS will include a manned fighter aircraft that will serve as the system’s mothership. There will be a swarm of UAVs, and UCAVs that will be controlled by the mothership. CATS ‘Warrior’ will be one of the UCAVs or loyal wingmen of the system.
Loyal wingman is a low-cost, pilotless aircraft with sufficient flight performance and intelligence to support manned and advanced fighters jets in combat. The concept, available only with a few nations until now, works on this principle: a crewed fighter jet is paired with a squadron of capable but uncrewed low-cost, attritable aircraft.
Each uncrewed aircraft has a mission-specific payload, such as sensors, weaponry, or electronic warfare capabilities, and can fly ahead of its crewed counterpart. These aircraft can also be used as low-cost decoys to aid identify and overwhelm opposing air defenses, as well as to divert fires away from crewed fighter jets.
The project has significantly progressed since Aero India 2021, according to a HAL official, and would soon be ready for its flight test. At present, Warrior is undergoing wind-tunnel testing. The flight-testing is expected in 2024. The engine is likely to be certified by 2025, according to the manufacturer.
“As the CATS Warrior is a twin-engined design, we believe that using two HTFE-25 engines will give the UCAV the necessary performance to match frontline combat aircraft,” said the HAL official, as cited in the report. HAL’s HTFE-25 is a turbofan engine with a thrust of 25 kN.