India, UK join hands to create propulsion testing facility for unmanned aviation

The Central government’s Technology Development Board (TDB) entered an agreement with Gurugram-based Casey Aviation Private Limited to develop an advanced hybrid propulsion-based Jump Take-Off (JTO) system for enhancing the operational capabilities of unmanned and light aircraft platforms, an official statement said on Monday.

The proposed solution integrates hybrid propulsion technologies to enable short or near-vertical take-off capabilities for platforms such as gyrocopters and unmanned aerial systems.

The project also envisaged the establishment of a dedicated test bench facility for validating rotorcraft propulsion systems, as a critical infrastructure for testing and optimisation of next-generation aerial mobility technologies, the statement from the Ministry of Science & Technology said.

It will be the first such propulsion testing facility in North India, a validated testing infrastructure for startups and developers working in unmanned and advanced aerial mobility systems.

The government-run board has sanctioned a conditional grant for the project titled 'Boost Electric Jump Take-Off (BE-JTO)' under the India-UK Collaborative R&D Programme for Industrial Sustainability, in partnership with UK-based ARC Aerosystems Ltd.