HAL & GTRE developing 3.2kN thrust engine for Hunter Missile

The fight for air-dominance is changing, with the disruptive technologies in Aerospace sector coupled with Artificial Intelligence. The next generation or 5th plus generation fighters are going to be super computers with faster data link communication, advanced electronics & avionics and integrated computing. Recently few countries have started working on unmanned wingman concept along with other unmanned platforms that can work as a team with a mother ship which would be manned.

HAL has also unveiled this concept in the Aero India 2021, however the work on it has started back in 2018. HAL has showcased its 4 different Drones under CATS lineup in Aero India 2021. They are the HUNTER an Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), The ALFA an air launched Swarms drone, the WARRIOR the loyal Wingman and Infinity Pseudo satellite.

Recently, there has been an update related to the HUNTER missile regarding which we will be discussing in the video. However, if you want to know about the complete CATS program, you can find a link in description section for the same.

Talking about Hunter, it is going to be first indigenous long-range, autonomous, high-precision air-to-surface cruise missile. As you can see in the image there are 2 Variants of HUNTER attached with the LCA Pylons. The first one with transparent fuselage is equipped with AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar.

The second HUNTER drone is carrying an optical sensor (Infrared Search & Track) in its nose. Both of these platforms will be used to provide additional intelligence to combat aircraft and if required it can also act as a cruise missile. CATS Hunter will be integrated with advance navigation technology and will perform role similar to SCALP missiles. The missile is going to have range of 200+KMs, weight of 600+Kgs and can carry warhead of 250KGs. The hunter missiles are expected to be stealthier in design than Brahmos missiles. It will be integrated with IAF existing fighters such as LCA Tejas, Mirage-2000 & SU-30MKI. It can be further extended to upcoming fighters like Tejas MK2, TEDBF & AMCA.

Now, let’s try to understand the significance of the HUNTER missile. The HUNTER missiles will be integrated with a mother-ship which will be a manned aircraft such as LCA Tejas or Jaguar. The Hunter missiles can perform deep penetration strikes enabling mother ship to carry out strikes deeper into enemy territory from a long stand off distance. Also, since the missile has cruising ability it will be difficult to detect and neutralize.

Now, if we talk about the latest update related to its development, HAL together with Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) has started manufacturing the engines required to power the Hunter missile. They are working on two Technological Demonstrator of the turbojet engine which will be capable of generating a thrust of 3.2kN and will be used for India’s first Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) Program or Hunter Missiles. The turbojet engine is optimized for use especially on cruise missiles and is planned to have a service life of 17 hours and can maintain and sustain in flight duration for 16mins or more. It should be able to achieve the range of 300+km at its peak speed of 0.85Mach. It is going to be 74cm long with diameter of 31cm and has a total Dry weight of 44kg.

Recently DRDO has also tested its Manik or Small Turbo Fan Engine (STFE) with Nirbhay missile which can generate a thrust of 4.41 kN over a distance of 150KM.


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