India’s UCAV To Be A Neuron Clone?

India’s indigenous stealth UCAV programme, AURA, could borrow a lot of design from the European Neuron UCAV technology demonstrator. The image above, (snapped helpfully with a cell phone off a doc I hope to see a full version of soon) could be another glimpse into how the programme is thinking, and it sure looks like the Neuron to me. Interestingly, the AURA team has in fact been offered a technology partnership by the Neuron’s programme leader Dassault Aviation, though the offer may not have anything directly to do with the Neuron programme itself. Incidentally, the AURA started out as a secret defence project (like India’s SSBN programme), though the establishment has not only acknowledged its existence, but begun to talk quite a bit about it. Hope to get some real juice at Aero India though. Maybe a model too? Unlikely, but you never know.

17 thoughts on “India’s UCAV To Be A Neuron Clone?”

  1. India Should Bring It's own UAV Design… Rather than trying to copy others.. After Spending lot of money with no use technology india should think and Build Indigenously,…

  2. What is the problem? If something looks similar to Neuron it is copied? What strange!!!! Neuron is similar to B-2 than is it a copy? We always try to find a foreign link in everything.

    Anon 10:03 AM, Paki can you shut up?

  3. What about Bae Taranis? Mig skat? All of them are copy of Neuron because they looks similar? We Indians are great!

  4. Well Aura may look a clone but will definitely not be a copy(xerox copy).
    As Anonymous(11:23AM) said Neuron is similar to B-2.
    Want to add that B-2 was made with reverse-engineering of Hitler stealth plane which was captured by USA during 2nd world war. So B-2 is a copy itself.

  5. @Ravi Khanna:
    As far as stealth shaping is concerned, the flying wing is one of the more efficient designs. Almost all the stealth UCAVs in development at the moment (Taranis, Neuron, MiG Skat) share this design shape. That AURA's silhouette is strikingly similar to that of the Neuron does not simply mean 'copying': it just means that the ADA is far more observant than given credit for.

    To those naysayers of indigenous R&D: I think breathing with your own muscles is far better than a life-support system likely to fail any moment. Fin.

  6. What is important is that the program delivers an acceptable platform to the services as soon as possible and the number of subsystems made locally increases with time.

    All those who want everything locally made right from the beginning after investing peanuts in terms of time and money are not living in the real world.

    We are fortunate that India is strong in software, which is critical in UCAVs.

    ADA should involve academic institutions, research labs, private sector players and the services right from the beginning in a transparent manner.

  7. Neuron is a copy of the B2!!!why not state that too shiv..coz u r unable to confirm with any degree of certainty??then atleast speculate!!!!
    or is it only homemade stuff that will come under criticism here in this manner…its at concept stage and its already begun….and in the future if there is a similarity..it will be all "i told u so "….your flair for balanced reporting seems to be going away….or have you become too busy to update the blog personally…hope its the rather

    PS: i know this is your blog and you can choose to write whatever you please..but then you choose to receive comments so you will get these too

  8. definately it will be a great pltform.we started late though but …….
    its looks to me our aerspace industry is gaining confidence.
    its matter of time when we will have all stuff developed by own.
    and shiv bhai 'great work'

  9. dude,aura is a M.A.L.E aircraft whereas B2 is ful2 hardcore heavy bomber!so,theirs gonna be some similarity(visibly) but a LOT OF difference(internally).samjhe ki nahi babua log!

  10. Shiv, did you know that pictures from your blog with Livefist watermark are being used by asian-defence.blogspot.com

    I hope its not a misuse of your copyrights.

  11. Anonymous is my Real name

    Shiv
    Please answer a few questions.
    1. Are you an aeronautical engineer with expertise in stealth aerodynamics?
    I guess not.
    2. If Sachin plays a pull shot to a Steyn bouncer and Sehwag does the same, is he copying Sachin?
    No, its the best response to the problem at hand.
    3. If a Samsung and a LG notebook look the same from outside, are they copying each other?
    Probably No. Because the internals also matter.
    4. If someone is offering to share their experience with you, is the only plausible reason that you are not good enough and need their help?
    No. They might be interested in your money.
    5. Many of the best fighters today are canard (Su-30, Grippen, Typhoon), so do they copy each other?
    Not necessarily.
    6. Has ADA failed to deliver something they promised on AURA, thus forcing them to copy a design?
    No such news ever came out.
    7. Who sold you that hideous picture on which you based this entire "Neuron-Clone" theory?
    ………

    No answer there, just ask for your money back dude.

    If you got a different or more suitable answer for any of my first 6 questions, please enlighten all of us.

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