CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the sky

[ladder]

CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the sky

Despite the gloom surrounding the state of anti-Maoist operations, there appears to be glimmer of hope for the security forces operating across central and eastern India. After suffering repeated reverses on account of lack of intelligence, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) - tasked by Home Secretary R.K. Singh with creating a fleet of UAVs - has finalised the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-built 'Nishant' Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). In fact, in the last week, CPRF's Inspector General for Provisioning Dr N.C. Asthana submitted a five page proposal to acquire the same to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Most importantly from the operational point of view, the DRDO has offered to deploy at least two of these long-range UAVs in the anti-Maoist theatre with immediate effect. In the anti-Maoist operations, these UAVs play a key role in extracting technical and human intelligence. Additionally, these UAVs can forewarn troops by relaying real-time information about the terrain, location of hostile troops as well as that of natural obstacles.
The criticality of this acquisition can be better understood by contrasting this with the present situation where the National Technological Research Organisation (NTRO) flies just one UAV over the entire theatre comprising nine affected states! In the past, the MHA and CRPF have both complained about the restricted reach and capability of the Israeli Heron UAV which the NTRO owns. Annoyed over the NTRO's inability to improve its service, despite repeated efforts, in October 2012, Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh tasked the CRPF with creating an independent fleet of UAVs 'to reduce our dependency on NTRO/Indian Air Force etc'.
According to documents accessed, the CRPF has indicated the need for 16 Nishant UAVs for deployment in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar. In response the DRDO has promised to expedite the production, in conjunction with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, to complete the delivery of all 16 along with their Ground Support systems within 15 months from the date of placing a formal order.
"These UAVs will be a shot in the arm for us. For the last six months, we have been scouting for the right system across the world, only to realise that Nishant is a suitable platform for us." He added, "It is not only easily available as it is a DRDO-made, indigenous platform but also is a wonderful system because it does not require a runway and the entire added infrastructure which NTRO UAV does," said a senior MHA officer.
Since the Nishant is at present configured for the Indian Army requirements, the DRDO will re-configure specifications to suit the CRPF's requirements.
Responding to the CRPF, in a letter dated May 13, 2013, DRDO chief, Dr V.K. Saraswat wrote to Director General CRPF, Pranay Sahay, promising to expedite the delivery of the entire system along with there being a 'reasonableness of the final cost projected by the HAL.'
Where is the proposal now?
The CRPF has already forwarded its specifications on the optical and thermal imagery front, which it expects out of Nishant to the DRDO, which has in turn forwarded the same to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for a final costing, which will be submitted to the MHA for its nod, prior to acquisition.
How was Nishant finalised upon?
Nishant was not only readily available but also being produced DRDO, the acquisition would be easier. A CRPF note to MHA of March 2013, mentioned, "..the purchase of the UAV through global tender will take considerable time and wet-leasing is rather doubtful. Meanwhile casualties will continue. Since we do not have too many options, MHA may consider purchasing DRDO's Nishant. The system is robust and mobile."
Additionally, the Project Director of Nishant, Ashok Rangan, in a communication to CRPF in February 2013, informed, "Nishant was developed based on GSQR issued by Indian Army for battlefield surveillance and reconnaissance purpose during day/night. System has undergone user trials and successfully evaluated by Indian Army under extreme weather conditions."
Where Nishant scores?
According to the DRDO, Nishant is a highly mobile, compact and easily deployable system and can undertake day/night battle field reconnaissance, surveillance, target tracking and localization. With an endurance capacity of over five hours, it can attain maximum speed of 185 km per hour.
UAVs in CRPF
While the CRPF already uses number of micro-UAV Netra and will soon float tenders for ten small UAVs, the segment of Medium Altitude Long Range (MALE) was vacant. The NTRO's inability further fuelled the MHA & CRPF to acquire these UAVs. However, they soon found the process of spelling out the Qualitative Requirements (QRs) time-consuming. That is when at Aero India show in February 2013 at Bangalore, the CRPF team came across the Nishant UAV.


Read more at: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the sky : India, News - India Today

=================================================================================================

 

[ladder]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

I think a lot of changes has to be integrated.

1. Sensors have to be incorporated which can see through foliage.
2. The Army version was required to pick up weapons which are over 1m2 in dimension. But as such weapons are not used by naxals/maoists it has to be re-calibrated with higher resolution optics.But the positive side is that the Nishant can be made to fly at a low altitude as Naxals don't have weapons to down them.

3. But it has limitations it cannot effectively tell difference between a gathering of tribal and maoists.
4. It can best aid Human intelligence and cannot replace it.

5. The Netra micro UAV should be used on a laeger scale during operation to bust the Naxal hideouts and predicting their positions on higher ground.

 

[TrueSpirit]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

I think a lot of changes has to be integrated.

1. Sensors have to be incorporated which can see through foliage.
2. The Army version was required to pick up weapons which are over 1m2 in dimension. But as such weapons are not used by naxals/maoists it has to be re-calibrated with higher resolution optics.But the positive side is that the Nishant can be made to fly at a low altitude as Naxals don't have weapons to down them.

3. But it has limitations it cannot effectively tell difference between a gathering of tribal and maoists.
4. It can best aid Human intelligence and cannot replace it.

5. The Netra micro UAV should be used on a laeger scale during operation to bust the Naxal hideouts and predicting their positions on higher ground.

Excellent observation & suggestions. Importance of HUMINT cannot be over-stressed.

Sensors incorporation for foliage-penetration is underway (a private company in Hyderabad is doing some work for DRDO)

Micro UAV's potential is no doubt enormous but can anyone throw some light on the degree of success/utility these have achieved in Afghanistan?

UK forces/SAS were major users of them, right?

 

[ladder]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

Excellent observation & suggestions. Importance of HUMINT cannot be over-stressed.

Sensors incorporation for foliage-penetration is underway (a private company in Hyderabad is doing some work for DRDO)

Micro UAV's potential is no doubt enormous but can anyone throw some light on the degree of success/utility these have achieved in Afghanistan?

UK forces/SAS were major users of them, right?

This article in the link highlights the deficiency faced by Heron UAV used by NTRO
Heron drone proves a dud in tracking Maoists in Chattisgarh : East, News - India Today

 

[TrueSpirit]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

This article in the link highlights the deficiency faced by Heron UAV used by NTRO
Heron drone proves a dud in tracking Maoists in Chattisgarh : East, News - India Today

"Friend-foe identification" remains the Achilles heal for all surveillance tech. & sensors. IAI usually makes quality & reliable stuff.
But it's not much intelligence one can capture, but what one does with it to make it an actionable stuff.
That differentiates the wannabes from the real players & veterans.

 

[ladder]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

"Friend-foe identification" remains the Achilles heal for all surveillance tech. & sensors. IAI usually makes quality & reliable stuff.
But it's not much intelligence one can capture, but what one does with it to make it an actionable stuff.
That differentiates the wannabes from the real players & veterans.

yes, "friend-foe" identification is difficult and also how to convert raw footage into actionable stuff.

for the hardware part, IAI never customized heron for this purpose, also the way it was put to use was hardly inspiring
article in the link highlighting the same
IAF's Israeli drones of not much use in Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh

 

[MAYURA]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

"Friend-foe identification" remains the Achilles heal for all surveillance tech. & sensors. IAI usually makes quality & reliable stuff.
But it's not much intelligence one can capture, but what one does with it to make it an actionable stuff.
That differentiates the wannabes from the real players & veterans.

The only achilles heal is that our forces are battling an enemy which is supported by JNU professors and the whitewoman from Italy.
Can American army with all its stuff, defeat a militia of Afghans supported by Obama and his clique? A big no so no surveillance or putting army in can solve the problem.

 

[TrueSpirit]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

Excellent analogy but I believe that there is more to it than that.

Corporate' s & mining mafia have intentionally created a Civil-War like situation in these so-called liberated zones. It's the business(mafia)-babu-neta nexus that is difficult to break. The prevailing conditions serve the purpose of this nexus, in some ways & they are happy with the status-quo.

Maoist's are only too happy to collude with them, for they feel insecure (correctly) that if somehow development reaches these tribal, they would abandon the Maoist in quest for greener pastures, so they are busy IED-ing all roads/bridges/schools/hospitals/innocents in pursuit of their "Total Anarchy" mission.

CRPF/BSF guys & poor tribal are paying the cost of this with their lives & limbs.

 

[MAYURA]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

Excellent analogy but I believe that there is more to it than that.

Corporate' s & mining mafia have intentionally created a Civil-War like situation in these so-called liberated zones. It's the business(mafia)-babu-neta nexus that is difficult to break. The prevailing conditions serve the purpose of this nexus, in some ways & they are happy with the status-quo.

Maoist's are only too happy to collude with them, for they feel insecure (correctly) that if somehow development reaches these tribal, they would abandon the Maoist in quest for greener pastures, so they are busy IED-ing all roads/bridges/schools/hospitals/innocents in pursuit of their "Total Anarchy" mission.

CRPF/BSF guys & poor tribal are paying the cost of this with their lives & limbs.

Sir I was born in a district which has a very large number of tribals and I can tell you by my experience that people in interior areas know which men are naxal supporters and which not.

In the village of my maternal grandfather, there were only a few naxal supporters but they were known to us and tribals alike and were notorious for killing of tribal policemen. A young tribal inspector had his throat slit by these Maoist bastards so for god's sake we need someone to break this silence.

If a small man like me can know several men as naxals, what are intelligence agencies doing? What are our security forces doing?

the answer is that tribals have been used as human shields by naxals and top leadership of congress has always used naxals to achieve its ends like assasination of rival leaders. Mahendra Karma and Baliram Kashyap had lost their brothers in naxal attacks yet they continued the fight and if you read a bit (go back to 2003 and 2004 and read the tussle between Karma and that evangelist Ajit Jogi) , you will find the objective of this attack was to deplete congress with any anti naxal forces.

What is amazing is that people on this forum( who calls me dangerous for country) are just evading the real issue by concentrating on this and that technical stuff. Common sense tells us that Indian army can not be that ridiculous to fail to eliminate a bunch of few thousand killers with its present armoury and collateral damages have never been great even in kashmir after 1995 where to be honest , local support was more than what naxals have today.

Alas, the question is apart from Subramaniam Swamy, there is no one to tell that emperor has no clothes.(empress in this case).

the members should mark my words . No action shall be taken against naxals due to a very complex phenomenon which is beyond the scope of topic.


There is a pattern of this from russia to cambodia to naxalbari. They can be defeated easily by will, increasing surface troops ratio and adopting a multi pronged strategy but the question is are we brave enough to rise above inconsequential details and address the real issue?

The discussion on forum tells me that we are not and that is very sad.

Till then let our jawans getting killed and tribal women sexually abused by maoists.

What a shame for a nation of Lalitaditya.

 

[TrueSpirit]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

No action shall be taken against naxals due to a very complex phenomenon which is beyond the scope of topic.

Please elaborate on this complex phenomena. I do not have much first hand knowledge.

There is a pattern of this from russia to cambodia to naxalbari. They can be defeated easily by will, increasing surface troops ratio and adopting a multi pronged strategy but the question is are we brave enough to rise above inconsequential details and address the real issue?

What exactly is the pattern? How can you tell they can be defeated so easily? What exactly is "new" in your multi-pronged strategy?

Though I fully agree with you that tribal are used as human-shields by Maoists. And, that Maoists are political weapons ready to be sold to the highest bidder & they specialize in political assassinations.

 

[TrueSpirit]

Re: CRPF-DRDO combine to provide anti-Maoist troops their eye in the s

@MAYURA, I am still waiting for the reply to my queries, above.
You can PM me, if you need to, but I would really like to understand all this.