Some advances by India in the feild of UAVs
Playing a very Significant role in Strengthening India’s Indigenous Defence & Research Capabilities,the D.R.D.O i.e,the Defence Research & Development Organisation is known for many Studies & Innovations which have taken India to the Premium League of Nations having Indigenous Defense Production Capabilities.
Let it be the MBT Arjun,The Dhruv Advanced Light Attach Helicopter,The LCA Tejas,The Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile-the fastest in the World,The highly Accurate & Lethal AGNI & PRITHVI Missiles,The Lakshya UAV Attack Drone & many others.
Now,The DRDO is back with a new Project which will foster India’s Defence Capabilities to new Heights in the Field of Advanced Un-manned Aerial Attack Drones/Aircraft.
India is developing an Unmanned combat Air Vehicle for the Indian Air Force.Named the AURA (Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft) the design work on the UCAV is carried out by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). The ADA describes the AURA as a “self defending” high speed reconnaissance UAV with a “weapon firing capability”.India’s combat drone would be a stealthy flying-wing concept aircraft with internal weapons and a turbofan engine.
India is quietly going ahead with an ambitious programme to develop its own stealth UCAVs (unmanned combat aerial vehicles) or ‘smart’ drones capable of firing missiles and bombs at enemy targets with precision.
Talking about the secretive AURA (autonomous unmanned research aircraft) programme for the first time,the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) aims to develop the UCAVs for IAF in seven to eight years.
With Rs 50 crore as seed money, a full-fledged project team with 15-18 scientists has already begun work on the UCAV’s preliminary design and technology. With on-board mission computers, data links, fire control radars, identification of friend or foe, and traffic collision avoidance systems, they will be highly intelligent drones.
DRDO, on its part, is confident of developing the UCAVs mainly on its own, with “some foreign consultancy or collaboration” in fields like stealth as well as autonomous short-run take-off and landing.Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) at Bangalore is the main nodal DRDO lab for the AURA project, with others like Defence Avionics Research Establishment (Bangalore), Defence Electronics Application Lab (Dehradun) and Gas Turbine Research Establishment (Bangalore) chipping in.
Capable of flying at altitudes of 30,000 feet and weighing less than 15 tonnes, the UCAVs will have rail-launching for the missiles, bombs and PGMs (precision-guided munitions).The realisation that UCAVs are “game-changers in modern-day warfare” has been reinforced by the successful use of American ‘Predator’ and ‘Reaper’ drones, armed with Hellfire and other missiles, against the Taliban in the ****** region.UCAVs are much more advanced, almost like fighter jets in the sense that they let loose missiles on enemy targets before returning to home bases to re-arm themselves for the next mission.