India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADE) and the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) will jointly develop an air-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (ALUAV).
The project is valued at more than $22 million with costs shared equally, and marks the largest-ever defense Research, Development, Test and Evaluation collaboration between the United States and India, a USAF release said.
The agreement marks a major uplift in Indo-US military relations. India moves up from being a a net buyer of American military gear to a joint developer- a status which the US gives to its closest and technologically advanced allies such as Israel, UK and Japan.
The PA outlines the collaboration between the Air Force Research Laboratory, Indian Air Force, and Defence Research and Development Organisation towards design, development, demonstration, testing and evaluation of systems to co-develop an ALUAV Prototype.
The Indo-US ALUAV project could be inspired from AFRL’s own Skyborg teaming drone program.