
- 18 Jan 2025 06:48 AM
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Nalwa and Indian Vertical Flight Advance
By Kenneth I. Swartz
Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2025
Kuljeet Sandhu is developing a fiveseat electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to serve the Indian market.
The CEO of Nalwa Aero, who is based in Punjab in northern India, spoke at the Vertical Flight Society’s Transformative Vertical Flight (TVF) Meeting in February 2024 in Santa Clara, California. Over the course of 2024, his company continued to refine the five-seat Nalwa 5X eVTOL design. The aircraft features 12 electric ducted fans (EDF) with a tilt mechanism attached to the forward canard wing and rear box wing.
Sandhu previously worked as an electronics and communication engineer for the technology communications company Vodafone and was active in The Nalwa 5X. (Nalwa photos) the Indian drone industry. Nalwa Aero Private Limited (the name comes from Hari Singh Nalwa, commander-in-chief of the 19th Century Sikh Empire) has partnered with companies in the US, Germany, Australia and Spain to support development of the Nalwa 5X.
Nalwa’s chief technology officer (CTO), Nelson Salas, is also the founder of JETX and GRUG Group. Based in Orlando, Florida, Salas has three decades of aviation experience and has gained interest from the US military for his advanced crewed and uncrewed eVTOL designs.
India Needs Improved Air Mobility
Sandhu believes that eVTOL aircraft, and the Nalwa 5X in particular, will provide a solution that will address many of India’s mobility and connectivity challenges.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandhu noted that India — with a population of 1.3 billion — has a fleet of only 250 civil helicopters, out of which a mere 50 are designated for medical transport.
The number of cars on Indian roads doubled in the past 15 years, which has resulted in tremendous traffic congestion in India’s four largest cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata — as well as huge economic losses and increasing deaths due to air pollution and traffic accidents.
The design targets for the Nalwa 5X eVTOL include a maximum takeoff weight of 4,400 lb (2,000 kg), a maximum payload of 1,545 lb (700 kg), a cruise speed of 190 kt (350 km/h) and a maximum speed of 270 kt (500 km/h). Preliminary drawings presented at TVF 2024 show an aircraft with a 24.7-ft (7.53-m) length, 23.5-ft (7.15-m) wingspan, 8.2-ft (2.5-m) height and a three-point skid landing gear. Potential applications for the eVTOL include air taxi, air ambulance, firefighting and aerial spraying services, plus military use.
Nalwa expects to launch another investor round in 2025 once the current refinement of the aircraft design is complete.
Sandhu believes that India represents a tremendous opportunity for advanced air mobility (AAM) companies, noting that India’s growing middle class is increasing traveling by air, with 153 million passengers flown on Indian air services (domestic and international) in 2023.
In addition, several recent announcements highlight progress in both the Indian civil AAM and helicopter sectors.
In April 2024, InterGlobe, the largest shareholder of IndiGo, announced it was forming a joint venture with Archer Aviation to bring AAM to the Indian market.
In a major milestone, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) published a 48-page Aerodrome Advisory Circular for the design, operation and authorization of vertiports in India on Sept. 5, 2024.
In November, the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India, published a 40-page report titled, “Skyways to the Future: Operational Concepts for Advanced Air Mobility in India.”
Advancing Helicopter Mobility
Meanwhile, several new helicopter initiatives were revealed at the 9th Heli Power India conference hosted by the Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI) on Nov. 4–5, 2024.
The Civil Aviation Minister of India, Shri Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu Ji, announced that the government will launch over 50 helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) units along key national highways. Additional heliports will be constructed to support HEMS operations, and each helicopter unit will also serve remote and underserved areas. The first HEMS program will be in Rishikesh in the northern state of Uttarakhand.
The minister also highlighted the government’s vision to transform helicopters into a practical solution for people across the country with targeted interventions like the “UDAN 5.1” program to enhance regional air connectivity from unserved and underserved airports across India, making air travel more affordable. The minister also wants to integrate helicopter operations in the overall national aviation ecosystem.
The government launched the UDAN program (Hindi for “Let the common citizens of the country fly”) in 2016 to expand connectivity in India. Under the latest UDAN 5.1 program, the government also plans to make religious and scenic travel by helicopter more affordable and accessible, reducing travel time for pilgrims and tourists alike to high-demand villages like Kedarnath and Vaishno Devi.
The program has two primary components. The first part is to develop new greenfield regional airports and to upgrade existing regional airports. The second part is to stimulate new regional air services.
The first Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN flight to provide scheduled flights to underserved regions began in April 2017, and the construction of about 40 new regional airports was initiated, with about half now operational. Helicopter services were added in UDAN 2.0. Seaplane services were included later to stimulate flights to serve communities located next to lakes and rivers and along India’s 3,350-mile (7,000-km) coastline.
Ministerial Leadership
Sandhu noted that on Dec. 5, Naidu presented the Ministry’s plans to the Indian Parliament for developing the operational and infrastructure regulations for AAM, as it had recently done for drones. We “promote aviation and do the best for the people of this country so that everyone who aspires to [fly] has very convenient, affordable and accessible air travel.
“It was in 2021 when I used to talk about eVTOLs in India, saying that this transportation system will be just around the corner. People called me crazy for talking about air taxis in India,” Sandhu remarked. “But in just 1,000 days, it is now being discussed in the Parliament of India.”
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