Advanced indigenous aerial surveillance system to be deployed along Pak border

[Mujraparty]

Four years after Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) indigenously developed Akashdeep, a medium-sized aerostat system for aerial surveillance, the premier laboratory under DRDO is now conducting trials of an improved version of the system to be deployed shortly along the Pakistan border.

Nakshatra, as the new system is called, consists of the aerostat (an unmanned airship filled with helium gas) and the surveillance system and has seen successful trials over three months. It is now in the final stages of testing before being handed over to the defence establishment users, including the Border Security Force and Army.

"Primarily developed for surveillance of sensitive borders such as with Pakistan, Nakshatra is a bigger variant of Akashdeep with bigger payload capacity. In the earlier variant, there was no payload (aerial surveillance equipment or sensors) as such, though we had demonstrated its functionality with use of payload taken from other foreign agencies. In Nakshatra, we have an additional payload capacity of 300kg for sensors and radars and can conduct surveillance from a height of up to 1km and across 360 degrees," said a senior ADRDE official, talking to TOI. "The system is a result of development of a number of high-end technologies in the field of aerodynamic design of balloon, fabrics, fabrication, hydraulic winch, electro-optic tether, high pressure helium cylinder manifold and so on and can be used during peacetime as well," he added.

The technology is a major step forward in the 'Make in India' drive, officials said, adding that several details were classified. Once operational, India will join a select group of nations having developed such capabilities, including US, Germany, France and Japan.

Advanced indigenous aerial surveillance system to be deployed along Pak border - Times of India

 

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ya ya whatever

 

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IAF Scouts 8 More Medium Altitude Aerostats

January 11, 2016: The IAF has expressed interest in 4-8 new medium altitude surveillance/early warning aerostats on a fast track basis. The IAF wants static, mobile or portable systems deployable at altitudes of about 15,000 feet, stipulating that the mooring system should be fabricated out of marine grade anti-corrosive steel, which should be able to withstand Indian Standard Atmospheric conditions. Parameters required to monitor the health and status of balloon should be displayed for monitoring by the ground crew. Numerical data for winds should be displayed. It should be possible to launch and recover the balloon by a crew of less than or equal to 5 members. Operations of the Aerostat in flight should be possible by one person, with the ability to track & manually designate manoeuvring targets for higher track update rates and higher Azimuth, Range Elevation and Doppler accuracies. At least four Operator Work Stations (OWS) are to be provided by competing vendors for conduct of operations. All OWS must be capable of being configured either for radar operation or maintenance. Multi coloured display for presenting and updating Air Situation Picture with all tracks parameters and associated features like maps, locations, picture in picture etc, with user defined Graphical User Interface (GUI) are to be provided, and the system should have minimum 1000 hours of synchronised recording & replaying facilities of the air picture and R/T. System should be able to store the data on external storage device. The recorded data format should be able to replay on any PC and Laptop. The system should have provision of library and archiving tool for retrieving the recorded data.

IAF Scouts 8 More Medium Altitude Aerostats
- SP's MAI

 

[knight11]

Four years after Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) indigenously developed Akashdeep, a medium-sized aerostat system for aerial surveillance, the premier laboratory under DRDO is now conducting trials of an improved version of the system to be deployed shortly along the Pakistan border.

Nakshatra, as the new system is called, consists of the aerostat (an unmanned airship filled with helium gas) and the surveillance system and has seen successful trials over three months. It is now in the final stages of testing before being handed over to the defence establishment users, including the Border Security Force and Army.

"Primarily developed for surveillance of sensitive borders such as with Pakistan, Nakshatra is a bigger variant of Akashdeep with bigger payload capacity. In the earlier variant, there was no payload (aerial surveillance equipment or sensors) as such, though we had demonstrated its functionality with use of payload taken from other foreign agencies. In Nakshatra, we have an additional payload capacity of 300kg for sensors and radars and can conduct surveillance from a height of up to 1km and across 360 degrees," said a senior ADRDE official, talking to TOI. "The system is a result of development of a number of high-end technologies in the field of aerodynamic design of balloon, fabrics, fabrication, hydraulic winch, electro-optic tether, high pressure helium cylinder manifold and so on and can be used during peacetime as well," he added.

The technology is a major step forward in the 'Make in India' drive, officials said, adding that several details were classified. Once operational, India will join a select group of nations having developed such capabilities, including US, Germany, France and Japan.

Advanced indigenous aerial surveillance system to be deployed along Pak border - Times of India

The test of the ADRDE is been conducting in Agra, and for couple of months I can see them daily.
Cannot post the pictures, but its a huge aerostat, and what ever I got the impression is that this was needed for the Indian defense and will be very effective and cheaper alternative than the UAV or the watch tower all along the Indo- Pak border and Indo-china border for survellance and now India is among those few countries that make such aerostats on its own.