TSAMTO, March 15. Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has demonstrated an innovative concept for creating a mixed air group, which will include the LCA Tejas light combat aircraft and various unmanned vehicles.
As reported by Flightglobal.com, HAL has received the necessary permits and is currently deciding on the allocation of funds for the project. As noted, the Air Force and Navy supported the initiative, called the Combat Air Teaming System (CATS).
According to HAL test pilot Captain of the air group (retired) H. V. Thakur, preliminary work on the CATS project began in the second half of 2018, and the main work – in late 2019-early 2020.
Preliminary design work has already been completed. Currently, the two-seat UBS "Tejas" is being optimized within the framework of the concept of organizing the interaction of manned and unmanned vehicles, since this option still has growth potential. Work is underway to determine the requirements for a promising crew cabin that will cope with the workload.
As part of the CATS project, the advanced Tejas Mk. 1A variants will be used as the base platform for the application of the MAX (Mothership for Air Teaming eXploitation) aviation group and will be equipped with additional control and control interfaces for this purpose.
The system will include several other elements. CATS Warrior – a low-visibility unmanned slave, which will be controlled by CATS MAX. During the demonstration, a full-size mock-up of the CATS Warrior was also equipped with an ASRAAM missile of the MBDA group, which received the designation NGCCM (new generation melee missile) from the Indian Air Force.
Other elements are the CATS ALFA UAV (Air Launched Flexible Assets), which can be launched from the CATS MAX and used as part of a swarm, and the CATS Hunter multi-purpose weapon transport system.
A high-altitude UAV with a long flight duration is also considered an element of CATS.
Most of the work is carried out by HAL, which cooperates with Indian startups within the framework of the program. It is expected that tests of the scale models will begin in the near future. Since Tejas does not have a dedicated data exchange channel, HAL aims to integrate its own channel, which is being tested on the Hawk-i, a locally modified version of BAE Systems ' Hawk Mk. 132.
For the CATS Warrior, the PTAE-7 powerplant from HAL has been selected, which will be equipped with the FADEC operating mode control system and new parts with increased resource. The PTAE-7 was originally developed in the late 1980s as a powerplant for unmanned aerial vehicles.