Advanced stealth SWiFT drone

Description

GS PAPER III: Security challenges and their management in border areas - linkages of organized crime with terrorism.

Context: DRDO has initiated the ground trials of SWiFT, 1-ton All Up Weight (AUW) Technological Demonstrator for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Stealth Bomber).

The trials will be conducted on the first assembled prototype, which will be involved in a series of a low, medium, and high-speed taxi testing to fathom aircraft’s performance and instrumentation by a ground control station to ascertain the functionality of the unmanned vehicle when it reaches a high speed.

SWiFT

It has been powered by an NPO Saturn 36MT turbofan engine, which is manufactured by NPO Saturn Russia, for powering advanced trainers, light attack aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that will be later replaced by Gas Turbine Research Establishment’s (GTRE) Small Turbo Fan Engine (STFE).