BENGALURU: Bengaluru-based Flying Wedge Defence and Aerospace (FWDA) on Friday announced the completion of its Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Autonomous Combat Aircraft program.
The aircraft, named FWD Kaal Bhairava E2A2, offers combat capabilities at nearly one-tenth the cost of US-made Predator-class drones such as the MQ-9 Reaper.
The UAV has a 6.5-metre wingspan, a payload capacity of 91 kg and a range of 3,000 km with SATCOM support. It can operate at altitudes of up to 20,000 feet and offers endurance of up to 30 hours on surveillance missions and 11 hours on strike missions.
The company’s founder and CEO Suhas Tejaskanda, confirmed a $25 million export order from a South Asian nation, part of a $30 million strategic deal and described the order as a sign of growing international interest in Indian defence technology. “The Kaal Bhairava Economic and Efficient Autonomous Aircraft (E2A2) has been 80% designed, developed, and manufactured in India,” he said.
Tejaskanda mentioned the name “Kaal Bhairava” suggests “Guard of the nation.” Powered by an engine-based propulsion system, the aircraft uses AI-enabled autonomy for adaptive targeting, flight path management, and live combat decision-making, he said. The platform is also designed for swarm warfare, enabling multiple aircraft to execute coordinated strikes from different angles, saturate enemy air defences, and provide redundancy in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. According to Tejaskanda, the cost advantage allows for 10 Kaal Bhairavas to be fielded for the price of a single Predator, making it an “attritable” system where the loss of one unit does not critically affect operational capacity.
Tejaskanda said the company has created a fully indigenous maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) ecosystem, ensuring faster turnaround times, lower lifecycle costs, and readily available spares.