The Indian Army is interested in purchasing advanced UAS

The Indian army is interested in purchasing advanced UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) to strengthen its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities and improve the effectiveness of its military operations.

More specifically, the army is waiting for vendors to respond to a Request For Information (RFI) for 60 short-range UAVs that can operate for 10 hours at 15.000 feet, and 120 HALE (High Altitude and Long Endurance) UAVs that can operate for 30 hours at 60.000 feet.

The Indian army’s existing unmanned systems’ fleet comprises Heron MALE (Medium Altitude and Long Endurance) UAVs, and the smaller Searcher Mark II tactical UAVs, both built by IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries).

India to Purchase 22 Predator

According to The Diplomat, the Indian Government had expressed interest in purchasing an unarmed naval variant of the Predator already before 2015. However, the United States rejected India’s request because the country was neither member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) nor did it enjoy Major Defense Partner (MDP) status.

Now, the US Government has approved the deal, which is valued at over $2 billion. The deal, still pending congressional approval, would be the first such purchase by a country that is not a member of the NATO alliance. With these new UAVs, India seeks to protect its maritime assets, in particular in the Indian Ocean, and detect intrusions on a real-time basis.

Next to the threat of terrorism emerging from the maritime domain, India has been in particular concerned about the growing Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean.

Vídeo: El Harop en acción

El IAI Harop es un vehículo aéreo no tripulado de combate (UCAV) desarrollado por la división MBT de Industrias IAI. En vez de portar separadamente una ojiva explosiva, el Harop es en sí mismo la munición. Está diseñado para merodear por el campo de batalla y atacar objetivos, autodestruyéndose con ellos.

Dr. Vivek Lall joined General Atomics

Dr. Vivek Lall has moved on from the Reliance Industries Limited defense and homeland security venture and joined the US defense aviation company, General Atomics.

General Atomics has been in India for around two years pitching its Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), an electromagnetic catapult system which it is developing to launch aircraft from carriers in place of the older steam catapults.

General Atomics is the manufacturer of some of the most formidable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) fielded by the US in its wars since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, which include the MQ-1 Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper.

He joined Reliance in April 2011 and is now CEO of Strategic Development at General Atomics for the global market. Lall was earlier with Boeing Defense, Space and Security and steered the sale of aircraft and systems like the C-17 Globemaster III for the Indian Air Force (IAF), the P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft for the Indian Navy and Harpoon missiles for the IAF Jaguars as well as the navy P-8I aircraft.

While the UAV systems of General Atomics are not currently licensed for export to India, it is understood that Lall will be promoting a line-up of commercial products, besides the EMALS system being developed by the company.

Small UAV Market Estimated to Reach $582.2 Million by 2019

According to the new MarketsandMarkets' research report “Small UAV Market by Trends (Mini, Micro, Hand Held UAV), by Propulsion (Hydrogen, Electric, Solar, Lithium ION), by Payload (NBC Detection, Telemetry Systems, Software Systems, Meteorology), by Application (Civil, Military, Security), by Region & by Country – Global Forecast to 2014 – 2019″, the Small UAV Market is expected to register growth with CAGR of 21.70%, and reach 2.2 million by the end of 2019.

It provides information about the leading competitors in the global Small UAV Market and apart from a general overview of the companies; it also provides details on their financial positions, key products, their unique selling points and key developments. The report also analyzes the market share on the basis of payloads used in UAVs. The report highlights the revenue analysis of the small UAV market with respect to countries such as the U.S., Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Norway, Saudi Arabia, China, India, Japan etc. This research report also segments the market on the basis of products, types, application and geography, country, forecasting revenues, market share and analyzing trends in each of the sub segments.

More info: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/small-uav-market-141134567.html.

  

India to Bolster UAV Fleet

India plans to spend more than US $2 billion in the next five years to boost its UAV fleet, including mini UAVs, and sharpen its border surveillance, intelligence and communications capabilities. More than a dozen domestic private-sector players are eyeing the mini-UAV market, while the DRDO concentrates on developing HALE, MALE and combat UAVs.

The Army this month floated a tender to acquire 49 UAVs to be used for real-time ISR. The tender has been sent to private Indian companies Idea Forge, Dynamatrics, Hi-tech Robotics, Ufcon, Omnipresent Technologies, Datapattern, Tata Advance Systems and state-owned Bharat Electronics. The mini UAVs will be used for counterinsurgency operations in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, bordering Pakistan. The UAV will have an endurance of 30 to 90 minutes carrying a camera, and be able to perform auto tracking of targets. The mini UAVs will gather intelligence and carry out reconnaissance along the Line of Control with Pakistan and the India-China border, an Indian Army official said. Mini UAVs are effective electronic eyes in the skies against border infiltrations, which have increased recently, the official added.

The Army is employing UAVs as a communication constellation and has put them to use in rescue operations, as observation posts and for medical evacuation, said Mahindra Singh, a retired Army major general. The Army and Air Force have an immediate requirement for more than 700 mini UAVs. The Army plans to have about 1,600 mini UAVs by 2017 for use by the infantry and mechanized infantry, the Army official said, adding that these vehicles would be employed to enhance the Army’s situational awareness in the border regions. The mini UAVs will be integrated into a system that will include assets such as artillery, locating radar, bigger UAVs, aerostat radars, and airborne early warning and control aircraft, which could be used as a force-multiplier, the official said. 

India: More UAVs watching

The CRPF, nodal agency overseeing deployment of security forces for the upcoming assembly elections in five states, has increased the number of UAVs in the Maoist zone of Bastar for round-the-clock surveillance.

About half a dozen UAV Netra, owned by the CRPF, are gathering real-time intelligence across about 40,000 sq km of Bastar region that votes on November 11. These indigenous UAVs can send real-time video of ground movement within a 5-km radius. Besides, the MHA has asked the NTRO, country's elite intelligence agency, to fly UAV Heron whose range — about 400 km — is much more than the UAV Netra.

The Israeli Heron is operated from airbase at Begumpet in Hyderabad. The UAVs will aid planning of operations and deployment of more than 50,000 security forces inducted in Bastar's Maoist heartland for the polls, said a senior officer. The UAVs can play a crucial role in surveillance and intelligence gathering in the region where real-time human intelligence is hard to come by. Grabs sent by the UAVs help the security forces on the ground to monitor Maoist movement and plan precision strike operations in Bastar and also along Chhattisgarh's border with Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand.

India's indigenous drones

To counter what they see as the rapidly transforming nature of ‘asymmetric’ as well as the standard strategic threats, the Indian armed forces are actively seeking to purchase the latest technologies and weaponry. Accordingly, the military has started a massive modernisation drive phased over the next 12 years at the cost of a whopping USD 200 billion. A large part of this is earmarked for augmenting India’s fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, commonly known as ‘drones’.

(Read more)

India: UAV Netra para operaciones de rescate en Kedarnath

 

Los equipos de emergencia y salvamento personados en Kedarnath están haciendo uso de un UAV para ayudar a las autoridades a evaluar los daños y buscar personas atrapadas entre los escombros tras las inundaciones acontecidas en la región.

 

 

En palabras de un portavoz oficial, "Un UAV Netra y seis miembros de la National Disaster Response Force están desplegados sobre el territorio de Kedarnath. Debido al mal tiempo reinante, el UAV ayudará en las tareas de rescate proporcionando vistas aereas en directo de las zonas más dificilmente accesibles".

La India lanzará su primera misión no tripulada a Marte

La India lanzará en el próximo mes de octubre su primera misión a Marte, según confirmó su presidente, Pranab Mukherjee. (Seguir leyendo)