First engine run for India’s indigenous ‘loyal wingman’
January 13, 2025
HAL’s flagship Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) programme has successfully conducted an Engine Ground Run of its CATS – Warrior Full-Scale Demonstrator.
The CATS system consists of four different autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – the CATS Warrior, CATS Hunter, CATS Alpha-S, and CATS Infinity each with a specific role, but all intended to operate within a ‘system of systems’ with manned combat aircraft.
The CATS Warrior is intended to be a UCAV with a Maximum Take-Off Weight of 1,300-kg, a range of 800-km and a speed of up to 850 km/h, stealthy and carrying a 250 kg payload internally and/or underwing.
Critics suggest that the demonstrator is larger and heavier than planned, and rather less stealthy than it should be, with over-large tailplanes and a very prominent dorsal intake. It is assumed that any production version would be very different.
HAL has not said what engines the demonstrator has, but analysts have speculated that they may be 3.43 kN PTAE-7 single-spool turbojet engines used by a number of unmanned target systems. The production version is intended to use the 25 kN HAL HTFE-25 turbofan engine.
The other vehicles in the CATS family include the CATS Hunter, a cruise missile capable of penetrating deep into contested airspace to execute precision strikes. The CATS Alpha-S is a glider system designed to carry and release swarms of quadcopter behind the frontline. The CATS Infinity is a high-altitude, solar-powered UAV designed for extended intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, operating at altitudes in excess of 70,000 feet, and with an endurance of 2–3 months.
