India to develop unmanned combat aerial vehicle

Daredevil

On Vacation!
Super Mod
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
11,615
Likes
5,772
India to develop unmanned combat aerial vehicle

Bangalore: India will soon embark on developing an indigenous unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) for surveillance, detection and destroying specific targets, a top defence official said on Wednesday.

"We will soon embark on designing and developing an unmanned combat aerial vehicle, which will not only do surveillance, but will also help detect the target and destroy the identified object," V K Saraswat, scientific advisor to Defence Minister A K Antony, told reporters.

An UCAV or 'combat drone' differs from ordinary UAVs as it is designed to deliver weapons.

The pilotless vehicle can carry greater payloads and have wide range and manoeuvrability in the absence of a cockpit and associated equipment.
The ambitious project will be taken up by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bangalore with private industry participation.

"The controls of a combat drone will be rested with multiple command control centres. The centres can be geographically at different locations. Even if one centre becomes defunct, the drone can be controlled and guided by other centres," Saraswat, who recently took over as director general of the DRDO, said on the margins of a conference.

"The UCAV will work in a multi-layer manner for which ADE is developing the required technology, including sensors," Saraswat said after inaugurating the fifth national conference on 'NextGen IT for Indian Defence'.

The ADE is already developing a medium altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE UAV) codenamed Rustom for the three Indian defence services - army, air force and navy.

The MALE UAV is still in the experimental stage.

The first trial of the prototype, developed by Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd, resulted in a crash Nov 16 near Hosur in Krishnagiri district of western Tamil Nadu, about 40 km from here.

The Rustum UAV, with a wingspan of 20 metres and weighing 1,800 kg, has a maximum speed of 225 km per hour and can operate at an altitude of 30,000 feet.

"The Rustom UAV will be able to execute surveillance of the enemy territory up to a distance of 250km and carry a variety of cameras and radar for surveillance," Saraswat said.

The remote-controlled UAV took off from a private airstrip at Belagondapalli village on the outskirts of Bangalore. After hovering over the Taneja private airstrip for a few minutes, it lost direction and crashed onto an adjacent coconut farm, an ADE official said.

"The aerial vehicle was test-flown for research. The remote control device developed a snag and that led to the crash," the official added.
 

Sridhar

House keeper
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2009
Messages
3,474
Likes
1,061
Country flag
DRDO to develop Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle

BY : PTI
The Defence Research and Development Organisation will be embarking on developing an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV), a top official said today.
The UCAV will be produced as part of a plan to develop defence weapon systems.
“We will be embarking on UCAV, which will be an unmanned aerial vehicle with weapons. This will not only do surveillance but fire on identified targets,” Dr V K Saraswat, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and DRDO Director General, told reporters here.
All controls of the unmanned vehicle will rest with the Command Control Centres (CCCs) which could be situated at geographically different locations. Even if one CCC becomes defunct, it can be controlled and directed from other CCCs. It will work in a layered manner, Saraswat said.
DRDO has also started work on high-altitude medium endurance UAV.


DRDO to develop Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle IDRW.ORG
 

Rage

DFI TEAM
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
5,419
Likes
1,001
I'd rather see these cackadoodles perfect the MALE UAV first, then attempt to weaponize it. I don't want to see them go the way of another crash like the Rustom.

I just realized that the DRDO were experimenting even with the production and development routine of the MALE UAV!: they decided at the outset, in early 2008 at the planning stage, to follow the practice of 'concurrent engineering': where initial design efforts would take into consideration production issues with a production agency, with the production agency-cum-development Partner (PADP) participating in the development of the system right from scratch. Needless to say, we all know where that went.

Maybe the DRDO should just concentrate on doing things the right way, instead of trying to be the loony scientist that dibs and dabs at chemicals here 'n' there, and blows up the whole f%cking laboratory !


Interestingly, here's something I found:

ACIG Exclusives : Aero India 2005 : Chapter 4
 

Vladimir79

Professional
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
1,404
Likes
82
I agree, it is a little premature to be worrying about UCAVs when the first test flight of your first UAV ends up as a pile of garbage. I just love how ADE played it up, despite the mishap, we learned so much about... crashing into coconut trees. Next time, they can aim for the water.
 

VayuSena1

Professional
Joined
Mar 30, 2009
Messages
200
Likes
16
I agree, it is a little premature to be worrying about UCAVs when the first test flight of your first UAV ends up as a pile of garbage. I just love how ADE played it up, despite the mishap, we learned so much about... crashing into coconut trees. Next time, they can aim for the water.
I assure you that this will remain a concept for the coming 6 to 8 years. The LCA programme was the same--it was thought of first in 83 but actual work only started in 91.
 

Yusuf

GUARDIAN
Super Mod
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
24,324
Likes
11,757
Country flag
India has had a fairly decent record as far as the UAVs are concerned. I would give the DRDO the benefit of the doubt. They will come up good on this.
 

Vladimir79

Professional
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
1,404
Likes
82
India has had a fairly decent record as far as the UAVs are concerned. I would give the DRDO the benefit of the doubt. They will come up good on this.
15 years and still no induction of Nishant. I hope it doesn't take that long for Dozor-600 or we are screwed.
 

truthfull

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2009
Messages
96
Likes
7
15 years and still no induction of Nishant. I hope it doesn't take that long for Dozor-600 or we are screwed.
plz tell me one of my brother how to create a new thread, i want to create some intersting threads related to indias defence.
 

Mohan

Respected Member
Regular Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2009
Messages
182
Likes
3
Why announce everything in press conference we are starting this and that. Why not come out and say we worked on this thing and here it is dedicated to the country.That is what i want to hear now.
 

Vladimir79

Professional
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
1,404
Likes
82
Why announce everything in press conference we are starting this and that. Why not come out and say we worked on this thing and here it is dedicated to the country.That is what i want to hear now.
They want to look busy. It is the same as Russia. Always announcing what is to be, when the time passes and it doesn't occur, all is disappointment. It would be different if they could keep close to a schedule. Divisions that perform should be rewarded, those that don't should be given new management. We all want results as that is the final straw.
 

S.A.T.A

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
2,569
Likes
1,560
DRDO is handling way too many projects involving complex technologies and even more complex resource management issues,which is affecting its ability to focus on technology delivery.Its time either DRDO concentrates its resources on its core sector which is the Army or the DRDO must restructured in a manner that there are multiple research department focused on each of the three wings of the armed forces.

This will to some extent mitigate DRDO's notorious issues with project management & schedule adherence
 

Mohan

Respected Member
Regular Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2009
Messages
182
Likes
3
This will to some extent mitigate DRDO's notorious issues with project management & schedule adherence
I think DRDO will be a good case study for the guys in IIMs to find out the draw backs and suggest the changes to be implemented.It happened for BMTC transportation in Karnataka. I am not suggesting both are same but allocation of resources and management can be worked out with IIM help.Its my pov
 

Vladimir79

Professional
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
1,404
Likes
82
DRDO is handling way too many projects involving complex technologies and even more complex resource management issues,which is affecting its ability to focus on technology delivery.Its time either DRDO concentrates its resources on its core sector which is the Army or the DRDO must restructured in a manner that there are multiple research department focused on each of the three wings of the armed forces.

This will to some extent mitigate DRDO's notorious issues with project management & schedule adherence
This is much what happened in Russia for the last 15 years. Too many projects in development but nothing being completed. Funding had to be withdrawn from projects with unrealistic timetables and directed to completion of more promising work. All the promises do not equal production models and without that, you have no system. No system means unrealiable army.
 

S.A.T.A

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
2,569
Likes
1,560
Take the example of ISRO,ISRO's annual budget is only marginally higher than that of DRDO,yet ISROs success rate and technology delivery significantly higher than DRDO.While there might by several other reasons to it,one thing that seems obvious is ISRO specializes in a core technology and thus is in a better position to control the development of its projects.The defense research needs the same specialized focus.
 

mattster

Respected Member
Senior Member
Joined
May 30, 2009
Messages
1,171
Likes
870
Country flag
Why announce everything in press conference we are starting this and that. Why not come out and say we worked on this thing and here it is dedicated to the country.That is what i want to hear now.

The answer to your question is simple. When you have an organization that is spending millions of dollars on projects that take a long time to come to fruition and are prone to delays and failures, etc - then at some point people are going to start asking where all the money is going ?? The Answer to that question cant be - we are working on cool stuff and when we finish it in 10 years, then you'll know where all the money went.

Sooner or later, it has to be justified to media and the public and the members of parliment. So they dont have the luxury of waiting till everything is working like a charm, before they announce it.

That said, a country like India has to be very judicious in how it spends it defense dollars and maximize the "bang for the buck".

But realistically its not just DRDO that is inefficient; it every single government body in India. This is something all Indians know. Indian beauracracy is legendary for its inefficiency. So why are we suprised that a goverment run defense lab is inefficient.

The only examples of efficiency in India are from the private or quasi-private industries. The only way for India to get out of this morass is to privatize the defense industry as much as possible and have the DRDO undertake only the most critical projects and run it like a private organization with employee compensation, hiring, firing practices that mirror the private sector.

It will take some time for such an ecosystem of private defense contractors to emerge in India.
 

Emperor

Regular Member
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
99
Likes
1
Honestly ,we cant criticize DRDO for its failures and cost over runs.Since its a mad mad world where one jumps to point out the failures rather than jumping with same energy to appreciate the successes.And DRDO is no exception for both takes.

One has to under stand that an organisation with a banner DRDO was established in the country which has to import from the basic automobile to every thing.And it was the time when there is no technological data base in the country.
Even though India out smarted the foreigners in mathematics, it came handy when the space program and nuclear program was started.
Though the country doesnt lack the talent ,it lacks a technological base and most importantly infrastructure for R&D.

And country was lacking funds wile brits left the country robing the last penny.
Under such situation an organisation formed to cope up with the needs in the defence and at the same time to satisfy the needs of civilians was DRDO.

Almost all the military developments that took place in both DRDO and BARC had their uses in the civil sector.
When people with talent and are after money immigrated to other countries,it is only those few good men out there who worked for pennies being patriotic laid the foundation to such organization.
And still they are getting far less pay than compared to their civilian counterparts and are working for national pride.
There is no other organization in the world that does research from food grains to the high end missiles.And yet their budget of $2 billion , they have to develop hybrid seeds that can be grown in high altitudes to the strategic missiles to nuke enemy lands.
Even though they take 100 failures one after another ,I will still appreciate their effort in going for 101 test with strong will to succeed provided a ultra low level perks.

I cam across people asking for multiple A-3 testings in one year.But they fail to realize the sad part in the dark that the DRDO budget dont exhibit the royalty of testing a costly missile that many times.
And If the armed forces does share the cost of development, it would have been a different story.Untill the end of last year they were reluctant to do that and only agreed to that this year.
And one has to second their character in abiding to the clauses to not reverse engineer.
DRDO did tried to reverse engineer SA-2 and gave up the project after the GOI told to do so and not because it wasnt capable of doing so.USSR didnt have that strict clauses during the time,hence DRDO took the initiative.

Only few developmental products surface in the public domain while a lot more of utmost strategic importance will never see the light.And this is where DRDO stands tall in keeping the country proud.

With a limited man power you cant simply allocated your available man power to numerous projects,hence the project allocation in a hierarchical order takes time even after sanction for such happens.

And it is the fault of MOD to over burden DRDO with all the humpy bumpy projects.When MOD himself is reluctant of getting the private sector into full pledged R&D ,armed forces has to bare the delays given the attrition rate of DRDO.
hahah look at this weird thing ,
Mr.Saraswat is the that is taking care of an utmost important project BMD .And he is already burdened with the project management there.And now MOD is over burdening him with rest 51 labs kept on his head to take care of.

And if they have to consider working on a new project, again they have to create infrastructure for testing from the nut and bolt state.
 

AJSINGH

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
1,237
Likes
77
we need military specific GPS system to have long range UAV ,as of now we have none and GOI is not doing much to start space command and not letting ISRO launch military satellites
 

Latest Replies

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top