South Asian defense contractors have announced the A-161 "Avadavat" Unmanned Helicopter as the latest evolution in the USA's journey towards unmanned vehicles. It is expected to fill many roles well, given the versatility of helicopters and especially unmanned helicopters due to weight savings on, well, manned stuff in them. To accomplish this, a somewhat revolutionary design will be used in which the powerplant, rotors, and avionics will be developed as a common base, and many different mission modules can connect on and off relatively easily to form the bulk of the mass of the helicopter. For aerodynamics and balance of weight purposes, they would generally be shaped the same and look similar, but will of course have different components and be swappable wholesale for simplicities sake. You might notice that the specs seem like a direct ripoff of the cancelled Boeing A160 Hummingbird in terms of projected capabilities and design choices. Even though we aren't using the exact same design and infringing on intellectual property (which we don't have access to anyways), we can still develop and incorporate our own versions of innovations that allow this helicopter to have excellent range and payloads for its size and cost (listed in specs sheet). A larger engine is included with 15 years of innovation since the original heli was built, leading to increased max speed for only slightly decreased endurance and range to fit modern speed standards.

Packages:

Attack

This configuration is meant to basically replace an attack helicopter around the same weight, such as the AW109, but have even more weapons due to not having to have a cockpit etc.

• 1 AO-18KD Big Boy Rotary Cannon with AP and explosive rounds to make the enemies cry
• 4 hardpoints that can carry 4× Mistral-2 air-to-air missiles or 8× Dhruvastra anti-tank missile (or mix of both)
• Internal weapons bay (taking space of cockpit) with ample space for glide bombs, normal bombs etc. for mass infantry and motorized destruction

Naval Patrol

This configuration will be used to both directly engage the enemy launched via land or ship and also as a patrol helicopter with exceptional range and endurance. For this end, it will feature increased-range radars and sensors specifically intended for maritime use to spot and track ships.

• 1 AO-18KD Big Boy Rotary Cannon with AP and explosive rounds to make the enemies cry
• 4 hardpoints that can carry 2x Brahmos 2 antiship missile total or assorted other missiles including 4x Mistral-2

Logistics

We will develop carefully arranged "blocks" of military supplies to specially fit into this helicopter and make the absolute best use of the space and weight on it. It can carry around 1860kg of stuff. We will develop one to supply each kind of regiment we have, including repair kits and basic spare parts for mechanized forces, and food for all of them. Blocks will be able to be paradropped or slide off on the go in virtually any terrain, ensuring constant supply in high-intensity combat situations.

Fueler

Tank filled with 1860kg of fuel. Can be additional heli fuel to extend the ferry range to almost anywhere in the world, fuel for vehicles on the ground, or aerial refuelling capabilities for other helicopters and (relatively) slow moving aircraft.

Antarctic

Special variant proofed for intense winter storms. Heavily extended fuel tanks and sensors stripped out for a range of 5,000km. Search and Rescue equipment.

AEW&C

Helicopter that can fly at 9,000m and cover area of 312,000km² with specialized radars, tracking hostile aircraft. Command portion will be outsourced to people in bunkers via uplink, allowing the helicopter to serve as a link between them as well as the all important sensory component. Supplements existing AEW&C aircraft in mainland, allowing for backups in case they get sniped. Can take primary role in a foreign theater with limited deployments and probably no dedicated AEW&C aircraft.

This program is supposed to cost around $4 billion to develop with all the different packages and to set up mass production lines. Production starts by the start of 2030. The average unit cost for base package will be around $25 million a pop (with attack costing a little more, logistics costing a lot less) given economies of scale (producing hundreds each of multiple variants potentially) and because this is ultimately a light helicopter with medium capabilities.