Bengaluru: Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace (FWDA), an Indian AI Warfare company, completes 100 cumulative hours of flight testing of its indigenous FWD Kaal Bhairava Lite, marking a significant development milestone as the Indian Navy moves to acquire long-range ship and shore launched loitering munitions.
Manufactured in India, FWD Kaal Bhairava Lite configuration is designed around a 1200 km class range and 8-10 hours of endurance. During testing, the aircraft has demonstrated 7-8 m/s climb rates, cruise speeds of 100-120 km/h and take-off and landing in less than 120 metres, according to FWDA.
The platform has also undergone flight testing in demanding weather conditions, including 25-30 knot gusts over the Bay of Bengal, providing the development team with real-world flight data on aircraft behaviour and control in challenging wind conditions. FWDA has additionally completed a demonstration of the aircraft in the challenging operating environment of Jammu & Kashmir.
Speaking on the development, Suhas Tejaskanda, Founder and CEO of FWDA, said, “One hundred hours of flight testing gives us an extensively tested indigenous aircraft architecture. Kaal Bhairava has demonstrated its short-field capability, strong climb performance and operation in demanding wind conditions. With a 1,200-km-class design and 8–10 hours of endurance, we believe the platform has significant potential for both the Indian Navy requirement and international markets.”
FWDA is also developing a pneumatic-assisted launch configuration for Kaal Bhairava Lite, with the objective of enabling deployment from ships and austere locations without dependence on conventional runway infrastructure.
The development comes as the Indian Navy examines long-range ship- and shore-launched loitering munitions, with its current RFI seeking a system with a range exceeding 1,000 km and more than nine hours of endurance. FWDA is evaluating the Kaal Bhairava architecture for potential adaptation to such emerging operational requirements.
According to FWDA, the Kaal Bhairava programme is continuing to generate interest from multiple parts of India and international markets. The company had previously secured an export order from a South Asian country, marking an early step in the platform’s international journey.
Building on this progress, the company has established its first international manufacturing node in Portugal, as a strategic European entry point, with the objective of establishing a presence in the country and progressively accessing opportunities across the wider European and NATO defence ecosystem.
With its flight-test programme maturing and international interest emerging, FWDA is positioning FWD Kaal Bhairava Lite as an Indian developed long-range autonomous aircraft platform for both domestic and global defence requirements.
Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace (FWDA) is an Indian defence technology and AI Warfare company focused on AI-driven warfare systems and development of next-generation combat aviation technologies, headquartered in Bengaluru.
Founded in 2022 by Suhas Tejaskanda, the company was established with a vision to reduce India’s dependence on expensive air-defence imports and advance self-reliance in cutting-edge aerospace technologies.
FWDA became the first Indian company to secure DGCA type certification for an indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The company subsequently unveiled India’s first unmanned bomber aircraft, the FWD-200B, which successfully completed its maiden flight on September 3, 2024.
On August 22, 2025, FWDA announced the readiness of the Kaal Bhairava E2A2 programme, India’s first AI-powered Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Autonomous Combat Aircraft. Designed and developed entirely in India, the platform is engineered for up to 30 hours of endurance and a range of 3,000 km, delivering AI-driven autonomy for precision strikes, swarm operations, and real-time Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Built with zero foreign dependency, the platform ensures complete data sovereignty and eliminates external kill-switch risks while being positioned at a fraction of the cost of comparable Predator-class UAV systems.
The programme has secured a USD 25 million export order from a South Asian nation and enabled the company’s first international manufacturing node in Portugal, marking a significant milestone in India’s global expansion strategy.
The Kaal Bhairava Lite variant has successfully conducted flight demonstrations with the Indian Army, including operations in high-altitude environments in Jammu & Kashmir. The platform has been showcased to multiple Indian defence stakeholders and is currently undergoing further evaluation and engagement processes with various security forces.
With a growing portfolio of autonomous strike systems, AI-enabled combat platforms, and scalable unmanned aircraft programmes, Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace aims to position India as a global hub for next-generation autonomous defence technologies.
