Spies in the sky

M D Riti

Advanced countries use unmanned aerial vehicles for military surveillance, law enforcement and even rescue efforts. These are remote-controlled planes with scanners and camera equipment.

India has been working to develop UAVs for over a decade now. Its first effort produced the Falcon. Subsequently, it was renamed Nishant. The army rejected Falcon because it failed to meet its technical requirements.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation is currently designing two UAVs based on Nishant. One is a low-cost aerial target and reconnaissance system. Kapothaka, a smaller version of Nishant, will have a flight endurance of 90 minutes and be able to carry a payload of 20kg.

Ulka, the second project, will be able to simulate the speed and altitude of a variety of enemy aircraft using false radar signatures. It is being designed to be launched from subsonic or supersonic aircraft, and perform missions between 50 feet and 13,000 feet at 1.4 times the speed of sound.

The avionics for these projects will come from the Aeronautical Development Agency.

India already has in its possession 16 Israeli-made UAVs of the 'Searcher' family. Searcher provides day-and-night real-time imagery data.

India has also contracted to buy Harpy anti-radiation drones from the Israel Aircraft Industry. Belonging to the 'Hunter' family, the Harpy is lethal. It is designed to detect, attack and destroy radar emitters. It is a fire-and-forget all-weather, day-and-night autonomous weapon system. It can be launched from a ground vehicle.

IAI claims that the Harpy provides the most effective solution to the hostile radar problem -- at the lowest price. According to Indian sources, the army will have to pay about $50 million for 16 of the 2.5 metre-long, delta-wing drones. The Harpy can take off with 100 kg.

Research in UAV development, meanwhile, is forging ahead at an amazing pace globally. There is now talk of unmanned tactical aircraft and combat air vehicles. Both involve pilotless high-performance aircraft capable of carrying the war right into the enemy's camp.