Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian public sector aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bangalore. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the world. HAL began aircraft manufacturing as early as 1942 with licensed production of Harlow PC-5, Curtiss P-36 Hawk and Vultee A-31 Vengeance for the Indian Air Force. HAL currently has 11 dedicated Research and development (R&D) centres and 21 manufacturing divisions under 4 production units spread across India. HAL is managed by a board of directors appointed by the President of India through the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. HAL is currently involved in designing and manufacturing of fighter jets, helicopters, jet engine and marine gas turbine engine, avionics, software development, spares supply, overhauling and upgrading of Indian military aircraft.
The HAL Tejas is an Indian single-engine, 4.5 generation delta wing multirole combat aircraft designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Navy. Tejas made its first flight in 2001 and entered into service with the IAF in 2015. In 2003, the aircraft was officially named "Tejas". Currently Tejas is the smallest and lightest in its class of supersonic combat aircraft.
The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is an Indian single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather fifth-generation stealth, multirole combat aircraft being developed for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. The Mark-1 variant of the aircraft will be a fifth generation fighter while the Mark-2 variant will have sixth-generation technologies. The aircraft is designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) - an aircraft design agency under MoD. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) consisting of ADA, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and a private company is being formed for the development and production of AMCA. In March 2024, the project received approval from India's Cabinet Committee on Security for the prototype development.
The GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri is an afterburning turbofan project developed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a lab under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bengaluru, India. An Indian design, the Kaveri was originally intended to power production models of the HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. However, the Kaveri programme failed to satisfy the necessary technical requirements or keep up with its envisaged timelines and was officially delinked from the Tejas programme in September 2008.
Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) is a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Located in Bengaluru, its primary function is research and development of aero gas-turbines for Military aircraft. As a spin-off effect, GTRE has been developing marine gas-turbines also.
Ghatak is an autonomous jet powered stealthy unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), being developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Air Force. The design work on the UCAV is to be carried out by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA) was a tentative name for the UCAV. Details of the project are classified.
The Indian Air Force has been undergoing a modernization program to replace and upgrade outdated equipment since the late 1990s to meet modern standards. For that reason, it has started procuring and developing aircraft, weapons, associated technologies, and infrastructures. Some of these programs date back to the late 1980s. The primary focus of current modernization and upgrades is to replace aircraft purchased from the Soviet Union that currently form the backbone of the Air Force.
The AVIC Dark Sword is a stealthy supersonic unmanned combat aerial vehicle from the People's Republic of China. It is being developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China's Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute for the air superiority or deep strike roles. Use as an autonomous wingman for manned aircraft may also be a goal.
The Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon-201 or TAPAS BH-201 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) being developed in India by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) on the lines of General Atomics MQ-1 Predator.
The DRDO Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) is a long-range precision-guided anti-airfield weapon developed by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It is designed to be capable of engaging ground targets with high precision up to a range of 100 kilometres (62 mi).
The Composite Engineering BQM-167 Skeeter is a subscale aerial target (drone) developed and manufactured by Composite Engineering Inc. and operated by the United States Air Force and certain international customer air forces. It replaced the Beechcraft MQM-107 Streaker.
The Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie is an experimental stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed and built by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions for the United States Air Force's Low Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD) program, under the USAF Research Laboratory's Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) project portfolio. It was initially designated the XQ-222. The Valkyrie completed its first flight on 5 March 2019 at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
The Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik-B, also referred to as Hunter-B, is a Russian stealth heavy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) being developed by Sukhoi and Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG as a sixth-generation aircraft project. The drone is based on the earlier Mikoyan Skat, designed by MiG, and encompassing some technologies of the fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jet. In the future, it is planned to act under the control of pilots of Su-57 jets, similarly to the USAF Skyborg programme.
The Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, previously known as the Boeing Airpower Teaming System (ATS), is a Loyal Wingman class stealth, multirole, unmanned combat aerial vehicle in development by Boeing Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It is designed as a force multiplier aircraft capable of flying alongside crewed aircraft for support as part of an integrated system including space-based capabilities, and performing autonomous missions independently using artificial intelligence.
The HAL Tejas Mark 2, or Medium Weight Fighter (MWF), is an Indian single-engine, canard delta wing, multirole combat aircraft designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in collaboration with Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). It is a further development of the HAL Tejas, with an elongated airframe, close coupled canards, new sensors, and a more powerful engine.
The Spirit Mosquito was an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator in development by Team Mosquito in the United Kingdom. In January 2021, the aircraft was chosen as a technology demonstrator for the Royal Air Force's Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept which was first conceptualised in 2015 by the RAF Rapid Capabilities Office.
The HAL Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) is a canard delta wing, twin-engine, carrier-based, multirole combat aircraft currently under development for the Indian Navy. The TEDBF is being designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), and will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The TEDBF is intended to perform a multitude of missions, including air supremacy, air interdiction, anti-access/area denial (A2/AD), anti-ship warfare (ASW) and electronic warfare (EW) missions. The TEDBF is expected to replace the Mikoyan MiG-29K onboard the INS Vikramaditya and the INS Vikrant.
The HAL Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) is an Indian unmanned and manned combat aircraft air teaming system being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The system will consist of a manned fighter aircraft acting as "mothership" of the system and a set of swarming UAVs and UCAVs governed by the mothership aircraft. A twin-seated HAL Tejas is likely to be the mothership aircraft. Various other sub components of the system are currently under development and will be jointly produced by HAL, National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Newspace Research & Technologies.
A loyal wingman is a proposed type of unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) which incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and is capable of collaborating with the next generation of manned combat aircraft, including sixth-generation fighters and bombers such as the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider. Also unlike the conventional UCAV, the loyal wingman is expected to be capable of surviving on the battlefield but to be significantly lower-cost than a manned aircraft with similar capabilities. In the US, the concept is known as the collaborative combat aircraft (CCA).
The HAL HLFT-42 is a design for an Indian Lead-in fighter trainer proposed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Designed as a next-generation supersonic trainer jet, serving as an advanced trainer for upcoming HAL Tejas Mk2 and HAL AMCA Fighter jets. Notably, The HLFT-42 will also be used as a fully-fledged fighter jet to perform combat missions. HAL unveiled the design of the scale model of the HLFT-42 at the 14th edition of Aero India (2023), which was held in Bangalore.
