‘INDO-U.S. UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE TO BE FLIGHT-TESTED

A prototype of the Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) developed jointly by India and the United States is likely to be flight-tested later this year, said a member of the U.S. government delegation to Aero India 2023.
There is certainly some progress with respect to the ALUAV, this project arrangement was signed last year and we are expecting to conduct flight testing as early as the fall [September-November] of 2023. The flight testing will occur at a range in northern India as well as in the U.S.”
In 2021, the Indian Ministry of Defence and U.S. Department of Defense signed a Project Agreement for ALUAV, under the Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, along with the Indian and U.S. Air Forces, are the principal organisations for execution of the project agreement.
Major General Cheater said that ALUAV would be launched from the C130J aircraft. We will develop sensors on the package and we expect that this particular UAV would most likely be launched from the C130J aircraft.
That signifies a seven-year project arrangement. It is a long-term agreement and it also involves technology transfer that is a great step in the relationship of the two countries

F-35 at expo

On the likely participation of the U.S.’s F-35 stealth aircraft in the Aero India 2023, a member of the delegation said that if it did, it would be the most advanced aircraft in the airshow.
The delegation also said that it would be too premature for the U.S. to offer the F-35 to India.
The head of the U.S. delegation to Aero India, Ambassador A. Elizabeth Jones, said India and the U.S. were working together in many ways to ensure a free and open, prosperous, connected, and resilient Indo-Pacific region, where democracies can thrive.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB

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