India's Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace logs 100 flight-test hours on Kaal Bhairava Lite UAV
Why It MattersThe milestone underscores growing private-sector participation in India's indigenous unmanned aircraft development, spanning ISR platforms, autonomous combat systems and AI-piloted fighter programmes.
Bengaluru-based Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace (FWDA) has completed 100 cumulative hours of flight testing on its indigenously developed Kaal Bhairava Lite unmanned aircraft. Founded in 2022 by Suhas Tejaskanda and Srivatsav Kompelly, FWDA became the first private Indian company to obtain DGCA type certification for an indigenous UAV, and the Kaal Bhairava family gained public prominence in August 2025 when the company unveiled the larger Kaal Bhairava autonomous combat aircraft in Bengaluru.
The Lite variant is a smaller configuration designed for long-endurance ISR and precision missions, with a maximum take-off weight of 50 kg, a 10-kg payload capacity, a 4.4-metre wingspan and endurance of 5–15 hours depending on configuration. FWDA reports climb rates of 7–8 metres per second, cruise speeds of 100–120 km/h, and take-off and landing within 120 metres. The platform has been tested in winds of 25–30 knots over the Bay of Bengal and operated in Jammu & Kashmir, and a planned pneumatic-assisted launch configuration is designed around a range of approximately 1,200 km with 8–10 hours of endurance.
In 2026, Flying Wedge announced its first international manufacturing node in Portugal for the Kaal Bhairava programme. The company is also developing SUPREME, an AI-piloted fighter jet programme built around its Mobbing Doctrine, with a physical technology demonstrator progressing towards flight testing.
