India shelves biggest project to develop advanced UAV

[Windjammer]

India shelves biggest project to develop advanced UAV | India News - Times of India

India News: The initial deadline for DRDO’s Tapas project was August 2016, but there were multiple problems with the increase in the UAV’s “all-up weight” to an u

m.timesofindia.com

 

[Oscar]

Wrong powerplant and manufacturing process. There was some pictures floated a while back and they were going with like an upscaled smaller system rather than a purpose designed project.

Oddly, they could have easily gone for license manufacturing of an Israeli system here.

 

[moonaman.varavayi]

Oddly, they could have easily gone for license manufacturing of an Israeli system here.

The private sector is already beginning to license manufacture the Israeli Hermes-900:

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/navy-to-get-first-india-made-starliner-drone-today-4833642

This project is meant for developing indigenous R&D.

BTW, the title has been altered by the OP - isn't that against forum rules?

 

[legacytiger]

The private sector is already beginning to license manufacture the Israeli Hermes-900:

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/navy-to-get-first-india-made-starliner-drone-today-4833642

This project is meant for developing indigenous R&D.

BTW, the title has been altered by the OP - isn't that against forum rules?

Going foward DRDO will do less and less projects, and India private sector gaints will take over into defence projects. Once Modi is selected for 3 rd term,. this will happen at much much faster pace. Let Govt take care of only - health, education, law-and-order, and infra.

 

[indushek]

Alpha Defense was saying today that, Tapas was based on Boeing's Condor system.

Boeing Condor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Only the wingspan on Tapas was shortened, keeping in mind the runways of India. Besides taking a project out from mission mode, doesn't mean the work has totally stopped on it. Its just no longer a important project, and the data generated can be useful for future projects.

 

[suriya]

Wrong powerplant and manufacturing process. There was some pictures floated a while back and they were going with like an upscaled smaller system rather than a purpose designed project.

Oddly, they could have easily gone for license manufacturing of an Israeli system here.

That's difference project called Ghatak UCAV.
Even this project continues.

DRDO to continue with Tapas drone project, to expand its capabilities to operate above 30,000 ft

The DRDO is continuing with its project to further develop the Tapas medium-altitude, long endurance (MALE) drone in which one of the three services has shown interest to use them around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for operations.

economictimes.indiatimes.com

 

[Oscar]

That's difference project called Ghatak UCAV.
Even this project continues.

DRDO to continue with Tapas drone project, to expand its capabilities to operate above 30,000 ft

The DRDO is continuing with its project to further develop the Tapas medium-altitude, long endurance (MALE) drone in which one of the three services has shown interest to use them around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for operations.

economictimes.indiatimes.com

So was the Ghatak with the scaled up smaller structure that doesn’t work or is it this? I think it was this one otherwise they might be shelving Ghatak too.

And the news is funny, if you realized something is not working - reallocate resources and work on something that is more promising instead of trying to fix a bad road. Not like its a high value project when there are much more effective ones available.

 

[indushek]

So was the Ghatak with the scaled up smaller structure that doesn’t work or is it this? I think it was this one otherwise they might be shelving Ghatak too.

And the news is funny, if you realized something is not working - reallocate resources and work on something that is more promising instead of trying to fix a bad road. Not like its a high value project when there are much more effective ones available.

Its not that Tapas isn't working, it hasn't met the required parameters. Requirement by Indian Armed forces, was a UAV that could reach altitude of 30,000 feet and fly for 24 hrs. Tapas currently can reach only 28,000 feet and has a flight time of 18 hrs.

Due to this, the project has been taken out of mission mode. They now want to strap on a more powerful engine, but this has to be seen. Current news is that Navy and coastguard might induct it, in limited numbers.

Swift is the scaled down version that was developed, as a Tech demonstrator to validate flying wing configuration. It has been flown and landed successfully, and Ghatak is the full version that is planned. It is supposed to be built in next 2 to 3 years.

 

[Oscar]

Its not that Tapas isn't working, it hasn't met the required parameters. Requirement by Indian Armed forces, was a UAV that could reach altitude of 30,000 feet and fly for 24 hrs. Tapas currently can reach only 28,000 feet and has a flight time of 18 hrs.

Due to this, the project has been taken out of mission mode. They now want to strap on a more powerful engine, but this has to be seen. Current news is that Navy and coastguard might induct it, in limited numbers.

Swift is the scaled down version that was developed, as a Tech demonstrator to validate flying wing configuration. It has been flown and landed successfully, and Ghatak is the full version that is planned. It is supposed to be built in next 2 to 3 years.

That makes more sense