DRDO Ghatak

[flanker99]

it could be camera angle... but

tail is there at takeoff and landing, but is it visible at touchdown?

Not visible atleast taken at .16 mark.

 

[DEV1729]

Why vertical stabilizer needed it wasnt there in swift or ghatak design

 

[karn]

Why did they splice the video to not show the full landing ... I wonder

 

[Okabe Rintarou]

it could be camera angle... but

tail is there at takeoff and landing, but is it visible at touchdown?

Yes. Visible, but barely. But after 0:12 its clearly there.

Touch down no tail and in livefirst image also no Tail ..means disposable tail? awesome speed also during takeoff

Not visible atleast taken at .16 mark.

View attachment 162243

Easy on the hopium folks. The tail is still there as is visible post 0:12. Also, "dropping the tail mid-flight" requires its own set of complex CFD studies and adjustments within the FBW itself. Too damn complex. Much easier if you take a first flight with tail, then land it, remove tail, update software and send again. That is if they were so hell bent on getting a tailless first flight on first day itself. Which they most likely weren't.

Why vertical stabilizer needed it wasnt there in swift or ghatak design

Its just for the initial flights, till they have enough data on the FBW's behaviour to make tailless flight. They could have made the software such that it doesn't trigger the rudder until the drone is about to go into stall or crash during take off and landings. This is like training wheels on a bicycle. Once you get all your data for the FBW, aerodynamic characteristics, vibrational characteristcs, etc, they'll study the data and match with their simulations, update the software (and if neccessary the airframe itself) and then try a flight without the tail some months later. Its an iterative process.

 

[WarmongerLSK]

A Slowed and Brightened version by AlphaDefense:

It "looks" like the rudder pops up after touchdown but I think its just bad resolution.

 

[Butter Chicken]

it could be camera angle... but

tail is there at takeoff and landing, but is it visible at touchdown?

What is the importance of tail?

 

[ezsasa]

What is the importance of tail?

The stabilizers' job is to provide stability for the aircraft, to keep it flying straight. The vertical stabilizer keeps the nose of the plane from swinging from side to side, which is called yaw. The horizontal stabilizer prevents an up-and-down motion of the nose, which is called pitch.

 

[Okabe Rintarou]

What is the importance of tail?

With tail, the radar return becomes exponentially higher, so not good for stealth. They are only using this in initial flights as a safety net. Will get rid of it with enough empirical data accumulated.
.
EDIT: Wait, I just thought of this, but they were going to rely on a fluidic thrust vectoring system for yaw control. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they don't plan to implent it on SWiFT and want to implement it on Ghatak directly? And so SWiFT will always have a tail? Although I don't think that is advisable......

 

[Mikesingh]

Not visible atleast taken at .16 mark.

View attachment 162243

Here's the actual take-off!

 

[DEV1729]

A Slowed and Brightened version by AlphaDefense:

It "looks" like the rudder pops up after touchdown but I think its just bad resolution.

So that sound was from engine

 

[DEV1729]

Here's the actual take-off!

Nope this looks like neptune or some other large ucav

 

[Okabe Rintarou]

Here's the actual take-off!

Nope. This is video of first taxi trials that happened months ago. Acutal take off video already posted on this thread.

 

[Vamsi]

 

[TopWatcher]

Which engine is used? Is it our own one

 

[rone]

is it foldable tail ?

 

[brat4]

love the suspense of the tail.. its like a mystery put in to keep forums (and forumers) like ours occupied

 

[Photon]

A Slowed and Brightened version by AlphaDefense:

It "looks" like the rudder pops up after touchdown but I think its just bad resolution.

at 1.04 is satellite tracker ???earlier taxy trial video also don,t have any tail, and photo posted by livefist also don't , anyway with tail and delta wing it already simulate unmanned Tejas

 

[WolfPack86]

India’s stealth flying wing tech demonstrator on its maiden flight today.

 

[WolfPack86]

Clearest picture so far of India’s stealth flying wing tech demonstrator before its maiden flight test today in Karnataka. This is a precursor to the Ghatak stealth combat drone program, we’ve detailed here:

 

[Varoon2]

dimensions are 4m lengthwise, and 5m wingspan.