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In the world of UAVs, only sky’s the limit
Vidhi Upadhyay and Atul Chandra
For better or worse, Indian Air Force’s MMRCA deal has now for some time taken centrestage and the world’s eyes off any other acquisition deal by the ministry of defence, however important. The hype surrounding the acquisition of the unmanned aerial vehicles has steadily gained momentum in the ladder of preference of the Indian Air Force.
Although, it isn’t something that just caught the fancy of the forces, for India has in the past procured the major part of its UAV fleet in the last 10 years following the Kargil conflict. It would be interesting to note here that DRDO had initiated development of UAV’s in the late Seventies, spearheaded by the Aeronautical Development Establishment.
The initial development of aeronautical systems and technologies for unmanned aircrafts was to meet the requirements of aerial targets for training of artillery crews in weapon engagement. This led to the development and production of aerial target system ‘Lakshya’...
and later on the surveillance and reconnaissance UAV ‘Nishant’. For better or worse, Indian Air Force’s MMRCA deal has now for some time taken centrestage and the world’s eyes off any other acquisition deal by the ministry of defence, however important. The hype surrounding the acquisition of the unmanned aerial vehicles has steadily gained momentum in the ladder of preference of the Indian Air Force. Although, it isn’t something that just caught the fancy of the forces, for India has in the past procured the major part of its UAV fleet in the last 10 years following the Kargil conflict. It would be interesting to note here that DRDO had initiated development of UAV’s in the late Seventies, spearheaded by the Aeronautical Development Establishment. The initial development of aeronautical systems and technologies for unmanned aircrafts was to meet the requirements of aerial targets for training of artillery crews in weapon engagement. This led to the development and production of aerial target system ‘Lakshya’ and later on the surveillance and reconnaissance UAV ‘Nishant’.
Most of the present projects with Indian public and private sector and foreign partners to equip the three services with UAVs are for reconnaissance and surveillance. The existing squadrons of Heron and Searcher-II UAVS with the IAF are testimony to this. Also to this effect, the IAF is supposed to acquire two squadrons of Medium Altitude Long Endurance Rustam by 2012. While last year’s crash during flight test of ‘Rustom’ came as a set back for the project, it is very much on track. The naval variant of the MALE-UAV has also being worked upon and will contain ELINT and COMINT sensor suites in addition .
Apart from MALE, the IAF also plans to induct High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs in the 12th defence plan (2012-17) through a global RFP. The air headquarters are closely monitoring HALE programmes around the world which include the Global Hawk, the Warrior and Rapier of the USAF, Heron TP, French Neuron programme, British Raven and Corax programmes, Italy’s Shy-X and Germany’s Barakuda.
Another game-player in the unmanned aerial systems is the contract between Tata Advanced Systems and IAI’s Urban Aeronautics. Tata Advanced Systems has invested in Urban Aeronautics R&D efforts to develop the MULE, a single turbine-powered UAV for military re-supply and medical evacuation operations with a payload capacity of 250kg. The two signed a contract under which they will jointly explore the market for UAVs in India. The VTOL-UAV utilises a unique rotor less design which eliminates the safety hazards associated with helicopter rotors.
Vidhi Upadhyay and Atul Chandra
For better or worse, Indian Air Force’s MMRCA deal has now for some time taken centrestage and the world’s eyes off any other acquisition deal by the ministry of defence, however important. The hype surrounding the acquisition of the unmanned aerial vehicles has steadily gained momentum in the ladder of preference of the Indian Air Force.
Although, it isn’t something that just caught the fancy of the forces, for India has in the past procured the major part of its UAV fleet in the last 10 years following the Kargil conflict. It would be interesting to note here that DRDO had initiated development of UAV’s in the late Seventies, spearheaded by the Aeronautical Development Establishment.
The initial development of aeronautical systems and technologies for unmanned aircrafts was to meet the requirements of aerial targets for training of artillery crews in weapon engagement. This led to the development and production of aerial target system ‘Lakshya’...
and later on the surveillance and reconnaissance UAV ‘Nishant’. For better or worse, Indian Air Force’s MMRCA deal has now for some time taken centrestage and the world’s eyes off any other acquisition deal by the ministry of defence, however important. The hype surrounding the acquisition of the unmanned aerial vehicles has steadily gained momentum in the ladder of preference of the Indian Air Force. Although, it isn’t something that just caught the fancy of the forces, for India has in the past procured the major part of its UAV fleet in the last 10 years following the Kargil conflict. It would be interesting to note here that DRDO had initiated development of UAV’s in the late Seventies, spearheaded by the Aeronautical Development Establishment. The initial development of aeronautical systems and technologies for unmanned aircrafts was to meet the requirements of aerial targets for training of artillery crews in weapon engagement. This led to the development and production of aerial target system ‘Lakshya’ and later on the surveillance and reconnaissance UAV ‘Nishant’.
Most of the present projects with Indian public and private sector and foreign partners to equip the three services with UAVs are for reconnaissance and surveillance. The existing squadrons of Heron and Searcher-II UAVS with the IAF are testimony to this. Also to this effect, the IAF is supposed to acquire two squadrons of Medium Altitude Long Endurance Rustam by 2012. While last year’s crash during flight test of ‘Rustom’ came as a set back for the project, it is very much on track. The naval variant of the MALE-UAV has also being worked upon and will contain ELINT and COMINT sensor suites in addition .
Apart from MALE, the IAF also plans to induct High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs in the 12th defence plan (2012-17) through a global RFP. The air headquarters are closely monitoring HALE programmes around the world which include the Global Hawk, the Warrior and Rapier of the USAF, Heron TP, French Neuron programme, British Raven and Corax programmes, Italy’s Shy-X and Germany’s Barakuda.
Another game-player in the unmanned aerial systems is the contract between Tata Advanced Systems and IAI’s Urban Aeronautics. Tata Advanced Systems has invested in Urban Aeronautics R&D efforts to develop the MULE, a single turbine-powered UAV for military re-supply and medical evacuation operations with a payload capacity of 250kg. The two signed a contract under which they will jointly explore the market for UAVs in India. The VTOL-UAV utilises a unique rotor less design which eliminates the safety hazards associated with helicopter rotors.
