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.

Speaking to reporters on the eve of the air show, Major General Julian C. Cheater, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, International Affairs said, ”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.,” said Major General Cheater.

In 2021, the Indian Ministry of Defence and U.S. Department of Defence signed a Project Agreement for ALUAV, under the Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).

Bangalore-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.

The ALUAV is being developed to be launched from an aircraft and Major General Cheater said that it 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,” Major General Cheater said.