Hal: Cats Warrior

HAL Cats Warrior is an automatic wingman drone currently in the detailed design phase. It is a part of the Combat Aircraft Teaming system program developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. It is believed that his work began at the beginning of 2019 under a public association (PPP) between the state of HAL and the start of Newspace of Indian Private Start. HAL has made an initial investment of ₹ 400 million rupees in CATS Warriors. Indeed, a large-scale model was presented for the first time in Aero India 2021. The very first flight for the HAL CATS warrior drone is planned for 2024. The primary user of the CATS warrior will be our Indian air force and the Indian Navy. 

Development of HAL Cats warrior

HAL Cats Warrior will be a non -human-crewed aircraft with an autonomous wing capable of taking off and landing from Earth and in the sea from an aircraft carrier. It will join with the existing combat platforms of the IAF, such as Texas, Su-30 MKI, and Jaguar, which will act as their nodriza ship. 

The warrior is mainly expected to be used by the Indian Air Force, while a similar and smaller version will be designed for the Indian Navy. It would be controlled by the nodriza ship. The main tasks of the drone will include exploring, and absorbing the enemy fire, attacking the objectives if necessary with their weapons of internal and external pylons, or sacrificing crashing into the goal.

It will fly back to a mission inside the 350 km combat radius, and a long-range mission with a combat radius of 800 km will be sacrificed by crashing into the target. As it is an unmanned asset, you can direct it towards a goal and sacrifice it if it cannot return to its territory.

“Warrior will serve as a sensor amplifier for the LCA”- HAL Cats Warrior test pilot Group Captain H.V. Thakur informed about the drone. The drone will fly ahead of the aircraft and use its sensors to feed the information to the LCA. This way, our aircraft will know if there is anyone ahead of them. 

HAL Management approved a sum of ₹ 390 million rupees ($ 53.5 million) for its development as of February 2021. According to the director of HAL Engineering, Division of Research and Development, Arup Chatterjee, the integration with its ship will take 1- 2 years. The first flight is planned for 2024, as the development is expected to be done by then.

HAL Cats Warrior Drone

“The Combined Air Teaming System (CATS) program will have a mother ship (combat aircraft) and a few autonomous aerial vehicles known as Warrior Cats. The vehicle will have the ability to carry out a strike. It can enter 700 km within the enemy territory stealthily.”

The HAL Cats Warrior drone is based on a helicopter concept designed specifically to take the load to inaccessible areas, borders, and regions at great altitudes. It will also be equipped with a surveillance payload.

R Madhavan, President HAL, said: “We will be ready to fly in four years, and we have budgeted ₹ 400 cores of our own money for the projects. We are also exploring integrating cats with tiles and the Jaguar. “

CATS Hunter Missile India

CATS Hunter Missile India, at a glance, seems like an air cruise missile with high precision and autonomy. The high precision surface is equipped with an infrared search engine (IIR) of images and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for a high precision guide. 

It can be seen with a fuel tank, air inlet, and wing deployment system fed by a PTAE-7 turbojet engine with the rear section equipped with control fins to improve elevation and manoeuvrability. In general, CATS Hunter missile India has the registered marks of an observable low air. The cruise missile is listed, but, interestingly, it is probably the first in the world with its multipurpose arms transport system.

According to HAL, CATS Hunter can transport up to 250 kg of different eyelets depending on the mission requirements, and with its multipurpose weapons car system, it can be equipped with a 250 kg eye that can fall on the target. The Hunter can return autonomously to the base or the designated area within its edge before recovering using a two-level parachute system, only later to be collected and taken to the workshop.

Conclusion

National Security, or National Defense, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is considered a duty of the Government. HAL CAT Warriors are an essential part of our national security. The unmanned warrior platform as a loyal wing would act as a force multiplier and reduce the loss of lives during air combat. HAL is looking at the deadline of 2024-25 to develop his unique cat system. A deep penetration attack system exalts the combat aircraft pilot piloted the country’s borders while displacing missiles in enemy territory. It will serve as a great attack system.