In June 2021, India initiated the groud trials of stealth UCAV SWiFT drone. In October, a subscale demonstrator for India’s secretive Ghatak stealth drone was spotted. However, the Ministry of Defence or the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has not issued an official statement.
In terms of appearance, the SWiFT corresponds, broadly, with previous artist’s concepts and scale models of the drone and, more generally, of those of the Ghatak, with which it shares a flying-wing planform and an engine intake located above the forward fuselage. While the trailing edge of the drone is difficult to make out, it appears to have a classic tailless flying wing profile, providing an overall arrowhead shape, rather than the highly cranked wing found on other stealthy drones, such as the Northrop Grumman X-47B. Its trailing edge is less swept than other designs, like Russia’s S-70, for instance. It is said that the shape of this UAV will serve as the overall design idea of the future Ghatak UAV.
From the images that have appeared on the Ghatak UAV, the size of the engine’s tail nozzle and landing gear tires, it is estimated that the SWiFT drone is about 4 meters long, has a wingspan of more than 4.8 meters, and weighs about 1 ton. The tires of the landing gear in the photo are very large, which also shows the color of the aircraft’s verification machine. It is likely to be a reduced-size demonstration aircraft of the Ghatak UCAV, rather than a full-size unmanned fighter aircraft.
Ghatak UAV is an unmanned bomber with an internal weapon bay that can carry a variety of air-to-ground ammunition. The power unit of the SWiFT UAV is believed to be a Russian-made Saturn 36MT engine, which is a small turbofan engine used to power cruise missiles.
It has designed a concealed engine exhaust, which may be able to reduce infrared and radar signals.
