India's Current & Future UAVs & UCAVs
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WolfPack86
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Indian Army to buy 120 drones.
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Indian? Or foreign?.......,.....
https://www.livefistdefence.com/201...ld-of-indias-most-secret-combat-aircraft.html
Did everyone miss this?
Did everyone miss this?
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no news on tapas 201
last I had heard it was over weight.
no news about panchii
no news about hal UAV
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If you notice the level of Iranian drone advancement they develop a capability a year before China. Makes one wonder if they are assisting their drone programme.
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DRDO - Panchi
*******************
Panchi is the wheeled variant of India’s first operational home-built surveillance drone Nishant. The Nishant UAV is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering over enemy territory and also for reconnaissance, training, surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction, damage assessment, ELINT and SIGINT. The UAV has an endurance of four hours and thirty minutes. Nishant has completed development phase and user trials.
As reported earlier, Panchi (bird) is capable of taking off and landing from semi-prepared runways. This gives ‘mission advantage' to operators as the turnaround time between sorties can be significantly reduced. Panchi has been undertaking various pre-flight trials. It will have longer endurance as it does not have to carry the air bags and parachute system as in the case of UAV Nishant.
Panchi is expected to join the ranks of proven global wheeled UAVs including the Heron, Searcher, Predator and Global Hawk, once cleared for operations. ADE will also demonstrate in future the ATOL (Automatic Take-Off and Landing) role of Panchi. That will be a significant milestone for the programme.
Nishant, which has an underbelly airbag, is launched by a catapult, and lands with the help of an onboard parachute. Panchi has all the surveillance capabilities of Nishant, but it can stay in the air longer because it does not have to carry the airbag and the parachute systems of the other. It is also a light vehicle with its body made of composites, and has a high degree of stealth because it has a low radar cross-section signature.
Key Features
*****************
• Its biggest advantage over 'UAV Nishant' is its ability to wheel around - which the former can't - giving it more operational efficiency.
• It’s lighter and enjoys a better capable of ditching radars due to low radar cross-section signature.
• It possess a longer endurance thanks to the light weight (380 kg), as it does not need air bags and parachute system like Nishant.
• To sweeten the deal - the small size make it capable of taking-off and landing using small airstrips.
• It will be used for reconnaissance, battlefield surveillance, target tracking and localization and artillery fire correction.
• Panchi has autonomous flight capabilities and is controlled from a user friendly Ground Control Station (GCS).
• It can travel with maximum speed upto 185 km/hour and reach the height of 3.6 kilometer up the ground
source ...defense 360 fb page
*******************
Panchi is the wheeled variant of India’s first operational home-built surveillance drone Nishant. The Nishant UAV is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering over enemy territory and also for reconnaissance, training, surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction, damage assessment, ELINT and SIGINT. The UAV has an endurance of four hours and thirty minutes. Nishant has completed development phase and user trials.
As reported earlier, Panchi (bird) is capable of taking off and landing from semi-prepared runways. This gives ‘mission advantage' to operators as the turnaround time between sorties can be significantly reduced. Panchi has been undertaking various pre-flight trials. It will have longer endurance as it does not have to carry the air bags and parachute system as in the case of UAV Nishant.
Panchi is expected to join the ranks of proven global wheeled UAVs including the Heron, Searcher, Predator and Global Hawk, once cleared for operations. ADE will also demonstrate in future the ATOL (Automatic Take-Off and Landing) role of Panchi. That will be a significant milestone for the programme.
Nishant, which has an underbelly airbag, is launched by a catapult, and lands with the help of an onboard parachute. Panchi has all the surveillance capabilities of Nishant, but it can stay in the air longer because it does not have to carry the airbag and the parachute systems of the other. It is also a light vehicle with its body made of composites, and has a high degree of stealth because it has a low radar cross-section signature.
Key Features
*****************
• Its biggest advantage over 'UAV Nishant' is its ability to wheel around - which the former can't - giving it more operational efficiency.
• It’s lighter and enjoys a better capable of ditching radars due to low radar cross-section signature.
• It possess a longer endurance thanks to the light weight (380 kg), as it does not need air bags and parachute system like Nishant.
• To sweeten the deal - the small size make it capable of taking-off and landing using small airstrips.
• It will be used for reconnaissance, battlefield surveillance, target tracking and localization and artillery fire correction.
• Panchi has autonomous flight capabilities and is controlled from a user friendly Ground Control Station (GCS).
• It can travel with maximum speed upto 185 km/hour and reach the height of 3.6 kilometer up the ground
source ...defense 360 fb page
Defcon 1
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This is a little offtopic, but didn't any other appropriate thread for this.
Drone policy 2.0: India pitches for optimum utilisation of drones
Barely a month after rolling out registrations of drones in December, Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has made public the draft note for Drone policy 2.0 in India, focusing majorly on Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations.
The draft note talks about rules and regulations that will bind operations of drones in public spaces, especially on commercial scale. It further noted that rules governing operations of drones will either be "introduced as an amendment to the existing civil aviation regulations (CAR) 1.0 or it may also be introduced as separate set of Civil Aviation Requirements notwithstanding the conditions laid down under CAR 1.0".
"India is set to become a global leader as far as the drone ecosystem is concerned. It's important for us to have a policy road map and regulations that support the growth of the drone ecosystem," said Jayant Sinha, MoS for Civil Aviation.
The document, which has been made public to invite comments from various quarters, said that India needs to focus on developing an "enabling environment" to promote "commercial use of unmanned aerial services (UAS)".
"Successful implementation of CAR 2.0 for commercial usage of UAS, for operations beyond visual line of sight and for operation of autonomous UAS, is a factor of several combinations including safe and secure airspace for UAS, advance infrastructure to manage the UAS traffic, decentralisation of DigitalSky Platform and allow access to DigitalSky Service Providers ("DSP") for effective management, flexibility to adopt ever-changing technology, formulating an ethical framework for autonomous UAVs and innovation of new concepts to suit the varied topographic and demographic profile of India," the draft read.
India is expected to become a $886 million worth drone market by 2021 even as the global market would stand at $ 21.47 billion.
This requires India to focus on safety and security of drone application, promoting innovations and entrepreneurship coupled with tapping on various business opportunities.
The draft note has suggested developing designated 'drone corridors' for uninterrupted movement of drones, developing airworthiness standards independent of operational and environmental risks, limiting life-cycle of drones, obtaining "Proof of Concept" certificate to operate drones during night and obtaining professional certificates for operating independent drones.
"A UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system should be devised to provide hyper-local and real-time information for managing UAS induced traffic, especially in the Drone Corridors," the document read.
From cargo to humans
Interestingly, the Drone 2.0 policy document talks about usage of drones for delivering goods, human organs and blood.
"The UAS operations will create supply chain relay networks for delivery of payload, transport of temperature sensitive commodities like bodily organs, emergency or just-in-time deliveries of life-saving medicines or safe blood for transfusions and collection of patient specimens for delivery to laboratory for time-sensitive testing," the document said.
While Amazon has used drones to deliver a bag of popcorn in rural England, food delivery portal Zomato has tied up with Techeagle, a drone-based delivery platform to deliver goods in future.
The government is planning to allow 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI), through automatic route, in the UAS industry to give the necessary impetus to the nascent industry.
The idea of Drone 2.0 is to go beyond basic divisions of drones and adopt rules for commercial application.
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/e...or-optimum-utilisation-of-drones-3399661.htmlhttps://www.moneycontrol.com/news/e...or-optimum-utilisation-of-drones-3399661.html
Drone policy 2.0: India pitches for optimum utilisation of drones
Barely a month after rolling out registrations of drones in December, Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has made public the draft note for Drone policy 2.0 in India, focusing majorly on Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations.
The draft note talks about rules and regulations that will bind operations of drones in public spaces, especially on commercial scale. It further noted that rules governing operations of drones will either be "introduced as an amendment to the existing civil aviation regulations (CAR) 1.0 or it may also be introduced as separate set of Civil Aviation Requirements notwithstanding the conditions laid down under CAR 1.0".
"India is set to become a global leader as far as the drone ecosystem is concerned. It's important for us to have a policy road map and regulations that support the growth of the drone ecosystem," said Jayant Sinha, MoS for Civil Aviation.
The document, which has been made public to invite comments from various quarters, said that India needs to focus on developing an "enabling environment" to promote "commercial use of unmanned aerial services (UAS)".
"Successful implementation of CAR 2.0 for commercial usage of UAS, for operations beyond visual line of sight and for operation of autonomous UAS, is a factor of several combinations including safe and secure airspace for UAS, advance infrastructure to manage the UAS traffic, decentralisation of DigitalSky Platform and allow access to DigitalSky Service Providers ("DSP") for effective management, flexibility to adopt ever-changing technology, formulating an ethical framework for autonomous UAVs and innovation of new concepts to suit the varied topographic and demographic profile of India," the draft read.
India is expected to become a $886 million worth drone market by 2021 even as the global market would stand at $ 21.47 billion.
This requires India to focus on safety and security of drone application, promoting innovations and entrepreneurship coupled with tapping on various business opportunities.
The draft note has suggested developing designated 'drone corridors' for uninterrupted movement of drones, developing airworthiness standards independent of operational and environmental risks, limiting life-cycle of drones, obtaining "Proof of Concept" certificate to operate drones during night and obtaining professional certificates for operating independent drones.
"A UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system should be devised to provide hyper-local and real-time information for managing UAS induced traffic, especially in the Drone Corridors," the document read.
From cargo to humans
Interestingly, the Drone 2.0 policy document talks about usage of drones for delivering goods, human organs and blood.
"The UAS operations will create supply chain relay networks for delivery of payload, transport of temperature sensitive commodities like bodily organs, emergency or just-in-time deliveries of life-saving medicines or safe blood for transfusions and collection of patient specimens for delivery to laboratory for time-sensitive testing," the document said.
While Amazon has used drones to deliver a bag of popcorn in rural England, food delivery portal Zomato has tied up with Techeagle, a drone-based delivery platform to deliver goods in future.
The government is planning to allow 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI), through automatic route, in the UAS industry to give the necessary impetus to the nascent industry.
The idea of Drone 2.0 is to go beyond basic divisions of drones and adopt rules for commercial application.
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/e...or-optimum-utilisation-of-drones-3399661.htmlhttps://www.moneycontrol.com/news/e...or-optimum-utilisation-of-drones-3399661.html
Defcon 1
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Air Force Eyes Explosive Drones That Can Crash Into Enemy Targets: Report
In a bid to enhance its unmanned warfare capability, the Air Force is planning to acquire 15 more HAROP attack drones that can crash into high-value enemy military targets to destroy them completely.
The Air Force already has an inventory of these drones equipped with electro-optical sensors to loiter over high-value military targets, such as surveillance bases and radar stations before exploding them.
"A proposal to acquire these attack drones is expected to be discussed by the Defence Ministry at a high-level meeting in the coming week to strengthen the fleet of such drones in the Air Force," a defence source told ANI.
If approved, the Air Force will be exercising the option clause in the previous deal signed a few years ago with Israel, which is the main supplier of all types of drones to the Air Force.
India is also discussing "Project Cheetah" with Israel under which almost all the drones of the three services would be turned into high-quality attack drones and their surveillance capabilities would also be enhanced.
The three branches of the armed forces have a fleet of more than 100 of these unmanned aerial vehicles, which have been acquired over the years in different batches.
The forces are also working on developing home-made combat drones which would be deployed on both the China and Pakistan border once the project is complete.
Americans have been using combat drones to carry out targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, but the relatively slow unmanned vehicles are not known to be effective in warfare where the opposition also has a strong air force.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/air...ael-that-can-crash-into-enemy-targets-1983993
In a bid to enhance its unmanned warfare capability, the Air Force is planning to acquire 15 more HAROP attack drones that can crash into high-value enemy military targets to destroy them completely.
The Air Force already has an inventory of these drones equipped with electro-optical sensors to loiter over high-value military targets, such as surveillance bases and radar stations before exploding them.
"A proposal to acquire these attack drones is expected to be discussed by the Defence Ministry at a high-level meeting in the coming week to strengthen the fleet of such drones in the Air Force," a defence source told ANI.
If approved, the Air Force will be exercising the option clause in the previous deal signed a few years ago with Israel, which is the main supplier of all types of drones to the Air Force.
India is also discussing "Project Cheetah" with Israel under which almost all the drones of the three services would be turned into high-quality attack drones and their surveillance capabilities would also be enhanced.
The three branches of the armed forces have a fleet of more than 100 of these unmanned aerial vehicles, which have been acquired over the years in different batches.
The forces are also working on developing home-made combat drones which would be deployed on both the China and Pakistan border once the project is complete.
Americans have been using combat drones to carry out targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, but the relatively slow unmanned vehicles are not known to be effective in warfare where the opposition also has a strong air force.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/air...ael-that-can-crash-into-enemy-targets-1983993
Defcon 1
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Drones to keep watch on Bangla border in Assam
Guwahati: The ministry of home affairs has decided to induct Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) besides other technical gadgets for effective border management along the unfenced international border of India with Bangladesh in Assam.
The plan to upgrade frontier surveillance comes amid an uproar over identification of illegal foreigners in the state and governor Jagdish Mukhi’s remark that there is no place for illegal foreigners and only the indigenous people of the state have the right on its resources.
Informing that fencing the entire stretch of the India-Bangladesh border is not feasible due to several geographical barriers, security sources said that fencing on stretch of nearly 61 km in Assam was pending.
Pointing out that the ministry of home affairs has decided to manage about 48 kms of such stretch by non-physical barriers, security sources said that India has more than 4,000 kms of international border with Bangladesh and construction of physical barriers all along the border is not feasible because of geographical constrains like riverine border, elephant corridors, soil erosion and objections from Bangladesh.
Pointing out that the Border Security Force (BSF) has identified the vulnerable stretches of the border and the gaps in fencing, security sources said that various agencies engaged in border guarding have started using technological solutions to deal with the problem. A comprehensive border management system is being introduced to deal with infiltration and smuggling. The system, which is also called smart fencing, will be introduced all along the border starting with the vulnerable patches.
Security sources said that technical gadgets, including night vision goggles, advanced telescopes, search lights, hand-held metal detectors, hand-held thermal imagers, have already been used and unmanned aerial vehicles would also be inducted soon for effective border management.
The Indian government has also started taking steps for strengthening the institutional framework to improve guarding of the border with Bangladesh. Standing committees, headed by the chief secretaries of the states having international border with Bangladesh, have been constituted to evolve a standard operating procedure of the border protection grid. All the stakeholders are included in the grid for proper response in case of a border defence breach, security sources added.
Sources said that some other measures, including increasing the strength of the BSF, have also been taken.
Informing that at present, 81 battalions of the BSF are deployed in over 900 border outposts constructed along the border, security sources said that steps have been taken to increase the strength of the BSF.
Moreover, the BSF personnel deployed along the international border with Bangladesh have also been directed to sensitise the local people and NGOs about the need to help the forces in dealing with infiltration.
Admitting that the topography of the border makes international border between Assam and Bangladesh vulnerable to infiltration and smuggling, security sources said that dense population right up to the zero line is another problem in ensuring border management.
The illegal migrants cross over, mingle with the population of the border areas by taking advantage of ethnic similarities, particularly in Assam and West Bengal, and stay on in India.
Moreover, due to the land boundary agreement between the two countries in 1974, the fencing has to be constructed beyond 150 yards from the zero line and in view of the habitation right up to the zero line, in some places it is not possible to put fencing.
http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/290119/drones-to-keep-watch-on-bangla-border-in-assam-1.html
Guwahati: The ministry of home affairs has decided to induct Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) besides other technical gadgets for effective border management along the unfenced international border of India with Bangladesh in Assam.
The plan to upgrade frontier surveillance comes amid an uproar over identification of illegal foreigners in the state and governor Jagdish Mukhi’s remark that there is no place for illegal foreigners and only the indigenous people of the state have the right on its resources.
Informing that fencing the entire stretch of the India-Bangladesh border is not feasible due to several geographical barriers, security sources said that fencing on stretch of nearly 61 km in Assam was pending.
Pointing out that the ministry of home affairs has decided to manage about 48 kms of such stretch by non-physical barriers, security sources said that India has more than 4,000 kms of international border with Bangladesh and construction of physical barriers all along the border is not feasible because of geographical constrains like riverine border, elephant corridors, soil erosion and objections from Bangladesh.
Pointing out that the Border Security Force (BSF) has identified the vulnerable stretches of the border and the gaps in fencing, security sources said that various agencies engaged in border guarding have started using technological solutions to deal with the problem. A comprehensive border management system is being introduced to deal with infiltration and smuggling. The system, which is also called smart fencing, will be introduced all along the border starting with the vulnerable patches.
Security sources said that technical gadgets, including night vision goggles, advanced telescopes, search lights, hand-held metal detectors, hand-held thermal imagers, have already been used and unmanned aerial vehicles would also be inducted soon for effective border management.
The Indian government has also started taking steps for strengthening the institutional framework to improve guarding of the border with Bangladesh. Standing committees, headed by the chief secretaries of the states having international border with Bangladesh, have been constituted to evolve a standard operating procedure of the border protection grid. All the stakeholders are included in the grid for proper response in case of a border defence breach, security sources added.
Sources said that some other measures, including increasing the strength of the BSF, have also been taken.
Informing that at present, 81 battalions of the BSF are deployed in over 900 border outposts constructed along the border, security sources said that steps have been taken to increase the strength of the BSF.
Moreover, the BSF personnel deployed along the international border with Bangladesh have also been directed to sensitise the local people and NGOs about the need to help the forces in dealing with infiltration.
Admitting that the topography of the border makes international border between Assam and Bangladesh vulnerable to infiltration and smuggling, security sources said that dense population right up to the zero line is another problem in ensuring border management.
The illegal migrants cross over, mingle with the population of the border areas by taking advantage of ethnic similarities, particularly in Assam and West Bengal, and stay on in India.
Moreover, due to the land boundary agreement between the two countries in 1974, the fencing has to be constructed beyond 150 yards from the zero line and in view of the habitation right up to the zero line, in some places it is not possible to put fencing.
http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/290119/drones-to-keep-watch-on-bangla-border-in-assam-1.html
Defcon 1
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16-year-old Indian prodigy has developed a drone that can detect and destroy landmines
Harshwardhansinh Zala
What were you doing when you were 14 years old? At this age, I was still struggling with Maths and Science in the 9th grade.
But this wonder kid from the Indian State of Gujarat was already working on a revolutionary drone when he was this age. Now 16 years old, he has fully developed the drone, EAGLE A7, which can detect and destroy landmines, minimising the risk of losing human lives.
interview to The Quint ." data-reactid="15">Harshwardhansinh Zala, Founder and CEO of Aerobotics 7, the company behind EAGLE A7, claims that this drone can go from, say the Indian army base station, to the path where it has to go and detect the landmines. After detecting the landmines, the drone will send the information back to the base station. The landmines can be viewed real-time and destroyed real-time without human risk, he told in an interview to The Quint .
“We have developed the entire technology using raw materials and multi-spectral landmine detection technology. It is now under the process of international patent registration. We can detect landmines through different wavelengths,” he said to the publication, adding that this technology is not available anywhere else.
The model is currently under the process of international patents registration.
Also Read: Drones will revolutionise these 3 industries, so watch out
Aerobotics 7 was founded by Zala when he was 14 years. The startup’s mission is to make the “most innovative and advanced products for a better life”. Its main focus is designing and developing life-saving drones.
Harshwardhansinh Zala
Zala, who claims he has received many offers from abroad, wishes to help the armed forces through his technology. He said he has got partnership offers from South Korea, the US, France, Dubai and Thailand.
“We have got offers to establish our company there. We have been ensured funding as well. But, given the number of jawans (soldiers) being martyred (due to landmines) in our motherland, if I can develop this technology to serve the Indian Army and the CRPF, I will be glad,” he said.
The child prodigy is also the winner of the “International Peace Award” (Billion Acts Hero Award 2017).
Zala had sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in 2017, and bagged a deal worth INR 5 crore (USD4700,000) for the production of his self-designed drone.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/16-old-indian-prodigy-developed-drone-detect-destroy-052703556.html
Harshwardhansinh Zala
What were you doing when you were 14 years old? At this age, I was still struggling with Maths and Science in the 9th grade.
But this wonder kid from the Indian State of Gujarat was already working on a revolutionary drone when he was this age. Now 16 years old, he has fully developed the drone, EAGLE A7, which can detect and destroy landmines, minimising the risk of losing human lives.
interview to The Quint ." data-reactid="15">Harshwardhansinh Zala, Founder and CEO of Aerobotics 7, the company behind EAGLE A7, claims that this drone can go from, say the Indian army base station, to the path where it has to go and detect the landmines. After detecting the landmines, the drone will send the information back to the base station. The landmines can be viewed real-time and destroyed real-time without human risk, he told in an interview to The Quint .
“We have developed the entire technology using raw materials and multi-spectral landmine detection technology. It is now under the process of international patent registration. We can detect landmines through different wavelengths,” he said to the publication, adding that this technology is not available anywhere else.
The model is currently under the process of international patents registration.
Also Read: Drones will revolutionise these 3 industries, so watch out
Aerobotics 7 was founded by Zala when he was 14 years. The startup’s mission is to make the “most innovative and advanced products for a better life”. Its main focus is designing and developing life-saving drones.
Harshwardhansinh Zala
Zala, who claims he has received many offers from abroad, wishes to help the armed forces through his technology. He said he has got partnership offers from South Korea, the US, France, Dubai and Thailand.
“We have got offers to establish our company there. We have been ensured funding as well. But, given the number of jawans (soldiers) being martyred (due to landmines) in our motherland, if I can develop this technology to serve the Indian Army and the CRPF, I will be glad,” he said.
The child prodigy is also the winner of the “International Peace Award” (Billion Acts Hero Award 2017).
Zala had sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in 2017, and bagged a deal worth INR 5 crore (USD4700,000) for the production of his self-designed drone.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/16-old-indian-prodigy-developed-drone-detect-destroy-052703556.html
Next Manned Fighter Years Away, India’s Big Drone In 8 Months
The bloodletting over India’s next piloted fighter has become a show staple at Aero India, and this year wasn’t going to be any different. From the world’s largest aviation and defence manufacturers sparring on social media, to an underdog resurrecting its presence with an unusual media blitzkrieg, the big focus at Aero India 2019 was always expected to be India’s biggest and most ambitious defence procurement venture. But tucked away in a corner of the sprawling courtyard between the display halls, almost demurely out of plain sight, is an aircraft that is not only already built in India, but will be in the hands of the armed forces in less than eight months.
With 53 flights across six airframes at a sprawling 2,600 acre aviation test facility in Chitradurga test facility about 200 km from Bengaluru, India’s high performance Rustom-2 drone, designed to remain in the air for up to 24 hours, will be officially handed over to the Indian Air Force, Navy and Army this October for a crucial six month user trial phase that will stretch till March 2020.
Specifically developed for medium altitude lone endurance (MALE) flight, the Predator-sized drone is being developed in two specific variants — a standard surveillance model sporting an electro-optical payload with synthetic aperture radar for the Army and IAF requirement, and a naval variant that comes fitted with a maritime patrol radar. Livefist can confirm that air force and army drone pilots are already at Chitradurga getting a feel of the Rustom-2 before user trials kick in later this year.
The Indian armed forces currently operate the Israeli IAI Heron for long endurance drone duties both over land and sea, and has recently contracted for more, including an armed version. The Rustom-2 will mirror the Heron’s capabilities in many ways — while Indian sensor systems are under trial, the test airframes of the Rustom-2 all use Israeli electro-optical systems for the development phase. These will be progressively replaced with Indian systems when ready.
The Rustom-2 is currently capable of operations up to 300 km away from its control center with UHF and C-band links, and much longer away with SATCOM, still under test. Data links have proven — and will prove — to be the greatest challenge facing the Rustom-2 program in the journey to opening up its full stated potential. The user trials will involve rigorous testing of the drone’s long range autonomous flight over land and sea. Livefist can confirm that the drone has so far had flights with a maximum endurance of 16 hours, though this was only owing to test requirements — the 24 hours endurance parameter is a given.
The Rustom-2 comes up at a time when India has been cleared to procure 22 General Atomics MQ-9B SeaGuardian/SkyGuardian surveillance drones for the Indian Navy, with the Trump Administration also expected to clear India for a sale of Avenger armed drones. While pressure from the United States is high to complete a sale quickly, it isn’t likely to happen before next year.
The armed forces believe there is more than enough place for both ready, high performance drones from abroad, as well as the progressively improved, low-risk Rustom-2 that can be procured in large numbers and deployed across the country. The services believe that it is crucial for the country’s ‘drone dependence’ — as they put it — is decreased, especially since future capabilities of such platforms will necessarily need to stretch into signal intelligence and communication intelligence (SIGINT/COMINT) territory. In October a complex journey begins to stretching the Rustom-2 out — and it is this beginning that is sometimes frustratingly elusive in indigenous development.
“The Rustom-2 will come to us this October and we will embark on a capability discovery and user trial exercise that is crucial to our requirements. The requirement for long endurance surveillance is very high. While we have the P-8Is and Dorniers, the paradigm of maritime surveillance needs to shift in a significant way to unmanned systems given our enormous maritime area of responsibility,” an Indian Navy officer who will be part of the user trials told Livefist.
An Indian Air Force officer familiar with developments on the program said, “This is a long term program of high importance. The crucial aspect is that it is a low cost and low maintenance product with an impressive range of demonstrable features. We have been impressed with it so far and are looking forward to seeing what else it can do. I am quite certain it can be an armed platform later on. The game changer will be the SATCOM link that is proposed.”
The Rustom-2, as Livefist has reported earlier, is almost certain to spawn an armed version, though this is likely to be a far more complex exercise that will come later. Scientists say, however, that as the sensors and navigation-attack systems mature over the course of the next two years, a clearer picture will emerge on what kinds of offensive payloads will be possible on the Rustom-2. An extended range version of the HELINA (titled SANT) is one possibility, said a member of the team that Livefist spoke to at the show.
India’s secretive Ghatak flying wing stealth UCAV — detailed here on Livefist — is also under design and wind tunnel test by the DRDO, with new images emerging at the Aero India show (below). The Ghatak is yoked technologically to India’s AMCA stealth jet concept development effort at virtually every level, with progress likely to be linked with that program. Indications on timelines could be extracted from this detailed interview Livefist conducted with the director of the AMCA program yesterday
The bloodletting over India’s next piloted fighter has become a show staple at Aero India, and this year wasn’t going to be any different. From the world’s largest aviation and defence manufacturers sparring on social media, to an underdog resurrecting its presence with an unusual media blitzkrieg, the big focus at Aero India 2019 was always expected to be India’s biggest and most ambitious defence procurement venture. But tucked away in a corner of the sprawling courtyard between the display halls, almost demurely out of plain sight, is an aircraft that is not only already built in India, but will be in the hands of the armed forces in less than eight months.
With 53 flights across six airframes at a sprawling 2,600 acre aviation test facility in Chitradurga test facility about 200 km from Bengaluru, India’s high performance Rustom-2 drone, designed to remain in the air for up to 24 hours, will be officially handed over to the Indian Air Force, Navy and Army this October for a crucial six month user trial phase that will stretch till March 2020.
Specifically developed for medium altitude lone endurance (MALE) flight, the Predator-sized drone is being developed in two specific variants — a standard surveillance model sporting an electro-optical payload with synthetic aperture radar for the Army and IAF requirement, and a naval variant that comes fitted with a maritime patrol radar. Livefist can confirm that air force and army drone pilots are already at Chitradurga getting a feel of the Rustom-2 before user trials kick in later this year.
The Indian armed forces currently operate the Israeli IAI Heron for long endurance drone duties both over land and sea, and has recently contracted for more, including an armed version. The Rustom-2 will mirror the Heron’s capabilities in many ways — while Indian sensor systems are under trial, the test airframes of the Rustom-2 all use Israeli electro-optical systems for the development phase. These will be progressively replaced with Indian systems when ready.
The Rustom-2 is currently capable of operations up to 300 km away from its control center with UHF and C-band links, and much longer away with SATCOM, still under test. Data links have proven — and will prove — to be the greatest challenge facing the Rustom-2 program in the journey to opening up its full stated potential. The user trials will involve rigorous testing of the drone’s long range autonomous flight over land and sea. Livefist can confirm that the drone has so far had flights with a maximum endurance of 16 hours, though this was only owing to test requirements — the 24 hours endurance parameter is a given.
The Rustom-2 comes up at a time when India has been cleared to procure 22 General Atomics MQ-9B SeaGuardian/SkyGuardian surveillance drones for the Indian Navy, with the Trump Administration also expected to clear India for a sale of Avenger armed drones. While pressure from the United States is high to complete a sale quickly, it isn’t likely to happen before next year.
The armed forces believe there is more than enough place for both ready, high performance drones from abroad, as well as the progressively improved, low-risk Rustom-2 that can be procured in large numbers and deployed across the country. The services believe that it is crucial for the country’s ‘drone dependence’ — as they put it — is decreased, especially since future capabilities of such platforms will necessarily need to stretch into signal intelligence and communication intelligence (SIGINT/COMINT) territory. In October a complex journey begins to stretching the Rustom-2 out — and it is this beginning that is sometimes frustratingly elusive in indigenous development.
“The Rustom-2 will come to us this October and we will embark on a capability discovery and user trial exercise that is crucial to our requirements. The requirement for long endurance surveillance is very high. While we have the P-8Is and Dorniers, the paradigm of maritime surveillance needs to shift in a significant way to unmanned systems given our enormous maritime area of responsibility,” an Indian Navy officer who will be part of the user trials told Livefist.
An Indian Air Force officer familiar with developments on the program said, “This is a long term program of high importance. The crucial aspect is that it is a low cost and low maintenance product with an impressive range of demonstrable features. We have been impressed with it so far and are looking forward to seeing what else it can do. I am quite certain it can be an armed platform later on. The game changer will be the SATCOM link that is proposed.”
The Rustom-2, as Livefist has reported earlier, is almost certain to spawn an armed version, though this is likely to be a far more complex exercise that will come later. Scientists say, however, that as the sensors and navigation-attack systems mature over the course of the next two years, a clearer picture will emerge on what kinds of offensive payloads will be possible on the Rustom-2. An extended range version of the HELINA (titled SANT) is one possibility, said a member of the team that Livefist spoke to at the show.
India’s secretive Ghatak flying wing stealth UCAV — detailed here on Livefist — is also under design and wind tunnel test by the DRDO, with new images emerging at the Aero India show (below). The Ghatak is yoked technologically to India’s AMCA stealth jet concept development effort at virtually every level, with progress likely to be linked with that program. Indications on timelines could be extracted from this detailed interview Livefist conducted with the director of the AMCA program yesterday
proud_indian
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As I said before (in long posts earlier in this thread), they're brute forcing it into service. I am not really opposed to it. If it works for the forces - it works (we'll have to wait and see if they're satisfied in the user trials)
Rustom II is 2.5-3 tonnes in weight and has a payload of just EO pod & SAR! Predator is half the weight and carries all the sensor PLUS weapons.
In the current config, weaponizing will be difficult (I had talked about the dimensions; obstruction due to EO pod, propeller blades etc). They'll need to rework some parts in order to weaponize. Rear prop would be best!
Also it's funny that Rustom display was tucked away in some inconspicuous corner. Most desi journos didn't notice it at all and no one posted the pics. I was desperate to find it - & find I did, in a Russian site!
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Bro.....let them come fast.....development...upgradation will follow...........armed forces badly nee this.....
Dude! I am all for it. But it's the forces that need to decide..........
proud_indian
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proud_indian
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