IAF’s Israeli drones of not much use in Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh

[thestringshredder]

The deadly Naxal attack on the Congress leaders in Jagdalpur could have been prevented had the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) not been lying idle in faraway Hyderabad. According to intelligence sources, since every drone takes off from Hyderabad, they can’t spend sufficient number of hours hovering over the Naxal-affected regions in Chhattisgarh to gather intelligence. The Indian Air Force (IAF) never agreed to operate these UAVs from Jagdalpur, considering the region unfit for the stay its officials, the sources said.

The 12 Heron drones, bought from Israel in 2009, have failed to scan the Darbha forests or Sukma region as they never fly over these interior regions, the intelligence sources said. This is the reason why more than 500 Maoists gathered in these forests without being noticed by anyone. After the massacre, the killers were able to easily flee, putting a big question mark on the utility of such high-tech devices.

These drones are operated from the Begumpet airbase near Hyderabad. After flying for almost three hours to reach the Naxal-affected regions in the state, these machines are forced to return as they run out of fuel and have already reached their maximum range.

The IAF was requested to fly these drones to Jagdalpur last year from a DRDO’s air strip near it. But the IAF, citing lifestyle reasons of its officers, did not agree to do so. Meanwhile, the IAF had assured of shifting the Hyderabad UAV base to Bhilai and operate it from the airstipr of Bhilai Steel Plant but even after one year, the drones are being operated from Hyderabad.

The modus operandi of the intelligence agencies has also raised eyebrows, the sources said. The IAF sends the information gathered by the drones to National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) for analysis. Shockingly, NTRO does not have access to the intelligence reports. Thus, due to lack of coordination, the whole intelligence analysis work goes in vain, sources said.

The ability of the Israeli drones is under question as the electro-optical thermal radar censors mounted atop Heron-1 drones cannot penetrate the thick jungle cover and are unable to differentiate between Naxals and local villagers. However, the DRDO is taking the help of a Swedish firm to make these Israeli drones more accurate.

Link - IAF’s Israeli drones of not much use in Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh | idrw.org

 

[Koovie]

CRPF needs long endurance drones... case solved.

The IAF does not want to do much in Naxal Ops and send their personal into jungles.

 

[fsayed]

CRPF needs long endurance drones... case solved.

The IAF does not want to do much in Naxal Ops and send their personal into jungles.

handover rustom 1 and 2 to crpf that will solve the menace

 

[surya kiran]

There is thick forest cover in those areas. Imaging is extremely difficult in these areas, since most thermal imaging (FLIR) equipment will find it difficult to penetrate this cover. So, personally, I think this is a sensationalist article by somebody. Also, typical movement can be guessed in the forest not by imaging but by surrounding animal behaviour and calls.

 

[asad71]

Indians can never get out of the archaic bureaucratic mess.

 

[Koovie]

Indians can never get out of the archaic bureaucratic mess.

The military cannot be used inside the country as easy as it can be used in other countries like BD.... thats why we havent experienced a military dictatorship.

This strong sense of democratic values is embodied in civilian as well as military institutions, thats why the IAF refused several times to participate in combat ops against naxals after the media made some stupid suggestions.

 

[GR!FF!N]

The military cannot be used inside the country as easy as it can be used in other countries like BD.... thats why we havent experienced a military dictatorship.

This strong sense of democratic values is embodied in civilian as well as military institutions, thats why the IAF refused several times to participate in combat ops against naxals after the media made some stupid suggestions.

no need to quote that troll..by the way,its hard to recon using drones in Thick Jungle area.and only way to remove this Naxal Threat is to an joint operation from all the states,just like the "Green Hunt".but I wonder why they never made that operation and whenever they try to make a big operation,it is always Rainy season.never after Rainy Season.It always gave the Maoists oxygen.those 1000 personnels deployed there will not make any big difference if any joint mechanism could be worked out soon.

 

[asad71]

The military cannot be used inside the country as easy as it can be used in other countries like BD.... thats why we havent experienced a military dictatorship.

This strong sense of democratic values is embodied in civilian as well as military institutions, thats why the IAF refused several times to participate in combat ops against naxals after the media made some stupid suggestions.

What about the massacres, rapes and tortures perpetrated by Indian troops in J&K, Khalistan, Maoist States and NE?

 

[gslv mk3]

What about the massacres, rapes and tortures perpetrated by Indian troops in J&K, Khalistan, Maoist States and NE?

All I can say is

 

[Killswitch]

There seems to be a total systematic failure when it comes to dealing with the naxals.

I think it is time the country forms a national guard which would replace the various paramilitary forces that are operated by the states to deal with insurgencies.

The patchwork of paramilitary forces, police, CRPF, army, etc. is not getting the job done. There is too much bureaucratic infighting and paralysis.

India as a country has not taken its internal security seriously. Its time for things to change.

 

[ApparentRaceTraitor]

What about the massacres, rapes and tortures perpetrated by Indian troops in J&K, Khalistan, Maoist States and NE?

Nowhere close to what happened to your family before your country was born.

 

[Nisha]

There is thick forest cover in those areas. Imaging is extremely difficult in these areas, since most thermal imaging (FLIR) equipment will find it difficult to penetrate this cover. So, personally, I think this is a sensationalist article by somebody. Also, typical movement can be guessed in the forest not by imaging but by surrounding animal behaviour and calls.

The FLIT given to India is of low quality. This has been an issue for our armed forces for decades and still it is not adequately resolved. I suggest we pump some mega $$$ to change this

 

[Abingdonboy]

AFAIK the DRDO is working with the Swedes to devlop foilige penetrating radar systems to address the very issues the IAF's drones are facing. The current drones are pretty ineffective in such jungle terrains and offer very little practical advantage in most cases.

Along with that the CRPF's COBRAs have started using man-portable UAVs which are being purchased in massive quantities for the CAPFs these days. In the next few years these sort of issues should be corrected.

One only has to look at how poorly the CAPFs were equipped and trained when fighting the Naxals even a few years ago now look at them all of them are well trained and pretty well equipped with certain unites like the COBRAs exceedingly well equipped.

 

[anant_s]

The very fact that Maoists wanted to take revenge for Operation Green Hunt and Salwa Judum tells you that they have been jolted even with all their claims of having local support. However what is required to sort out the menace is systematic operations including cutting off their supply of arms and ammunition and then reducing their area of influence to small pockets.
Specialized units of security forces are more than enough to handle these groups if there is a political will to tackle them, Army IMHO is not required for these groups.

 

[OrionHunter]

The problem is the thick secondary forests obtaining in Naxal affected areas. You can have the best cameras on board but they are virtually blind as the Naxals make use of the thick forest cover. IR is not very effective too.

Jungle warfare is tough and always favors the attacker using unconventional means.