New Delhi: The Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) Warrior, which is being pitched as an unmanned combat drone to assist Indian fighter pilots, is set to take its first flight later this year, ThePrint has learnt.
The state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has displayed a prototype of CATS at the ongoing Aero India 2025 in Bengaluru.
Unveiled in the 2021 edition of Asia’s biggest air show, the CATS Warrior is an air teaming system that seeks to combine the manned and unmanned combat aircraft. This concept is also known as Manned and Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T).
Weighing around 2 tons and spanning 9.1 m in length, CATS Warrior will have a service ceiling of 9,000 m and a cruise speed of 0.6 Mach.
It is designed around a manned fighter aircraft, acting as a “mothership”, which controls a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs). The US, Russia and a select group of European countries have developed this technology.
The Indian combat drone will be capable of autonomous take-off and landing with dynamic mission scheduling. The system, according to a HAL official, will have indigenous flight control system and adaptive avionics system architecture.
The HAL carried out the engine ground run (routine maintenance tests of aircraft engines performed for extended periods of time) of a full-scale demonstrator in January, according to the HAL official.
The Warrior is powered by the HAL-developed engine PTAE-W. Originally developed for the Lakshya aircraft, the engine was modified and upgraded for the unmanned combat drone.
“There is more testing that has to be done on ground. After that, we have to do taxi trials and then the system will go into flight mode,” the official added.
The Warrior is envisaged as a loyal wingman to mothership aircraft—the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas as of now—for carrying out deep strike missions inside enemy territory using precision guided munitions.
Designed for electronic warfare, decoy, surveillance and precision strike, it will be capable of carrying two Advanced Short Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM) and two Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW), precision guided munitions on the wing weapon station.
The system will be able to deliver precision guided munitions from a safe standoff distance from the enemy, the HAL official said.
What the system seeks to do is minimise the human element and error in the offense. Its utilisation will help the Indian armed forces with enhanced combat effectiveness using autonomous capabilities. Moreover, in contested airspace, CATS can reduce the threat to human lives.
At Aero India’s Indian pavilion, another MUM-T based product, Abhimanyu collaborative combat aircraft (CCA), is on display. Developed by NewSpace, a private firm, the Abhinamyu will be much smaller than the CATS and weigh only about 200 kg.
This is the first private-sector CCA developed in India, according to NewSpace. While it is still in the conceptual stage, it is envisaged as a long-range, high-speed, swarm capable multirole aerial vehicle.
The system is imagined to have low-radar signature for stealth operations with the aim to collaborate manned and unmanned teaming for creating an effective kill mesh, said a NewSpace representative present at Aero India.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Stage set for Russian 5th-gen fighter Su-57 demo at Aero India 2025, F-35 to be on static display