India has a huge market for both civil and military drones. India is lagging behind in developing MALE- drones despite the fact that the country has achieved high ground in Information Technology (IT) which is fundamental to algorithm-based drones. DRDO’s Netra UAV has opened a plethora of opportunities for private players.

India has a huge market for both civil and military drones. The global military drone market is projected to grow to $30 billion by 2025. The military needs all categories of drones from micro to heavy, from hand-held to high-altitude. While the policy is shaping the building of indigenous capabilities, India still is falling short of developing military-grade drones of various categories.

So far, India has relied on Israeli and US drones, but manufacturing potential within the country in the public and private sectors is huge.

To encourage the indigenous ecosystem, India has largely prohibited the import of drones. The import of drone components is exempted for domestic drone manufacturers to incentivise and boost investments. In fact, in November, the Indian Army issued a requirement for 363 drones for non-combat, multi-domain operational missions which can operate at high-altitude mountainous terrain across India.  In the open tender, the Army clearly outlines that the drone system must have 60% indigenous material. A drone system is basically a drone with a ground control station and other essential sub-systems for imaging and processing.

On the other front, India’s sole research and development agency—DRDO—is building medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (MALE UAVs) with different configurations for the Indian Armed Forces. The need for such high endurance UAVs is not only required for robust Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) but it is needed for anti-air defence with combat capabilities.

India is lagging behind in developing MALE- drones despite the fact that the country has achieved high ground in Information Technology (IT) which is fundamental to algorithm-based drones.  In fact, several countries including Turkey, UAE and China have developed top military drones.  Turkey has developed Bayraktar while UAE has come up with its versatile drone– Yabhon United 40. Closer home, China has already deployed its powerful military drones – CH-5 & Loong Wing II.

Keeping that in mind, where does India stand in terms of manufacturing such high-calibre UAVs which can withstand the rigour and complex operational requirement of the Indian Armed Forces?

Tapas-BH-201 MALE drones

Tapas-BH-201 which was earlier known as Rustom-2 is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. DRDO’s Rustom II has been in the making for a long time. While there are many breakthroughs in several areas the delays pose questions and uncertainty. In fact, the prototype development began as early as 2009.

In its earlier avatar, Rustom-1 evolved from Burt Rutan’s Long-EZ with a 250 km range, for visual and radar surveillance. It was to be a tactical UAV with the endurance of 12 hours and made its first flight in November 2009. Another version, Rustom-H, is a larger UAV with a flight endurance of over 24 hours.

Tapas has made good progress as it has been linked to satellite communications (SATCOM) and long-range electro-optical payload had been tested. Basically, it is linked to the indigenous GAGAN satellite. It passed through many automatic take-off (ATO) flight tests which were conducted in 2020. However, the engine issue remained as the requisite power thrust could not be achieved which is resolved now with the Lycoming for smaller variants and twin Russian NPO-Saturn 36MT engines. Parallelly, DRDO is also working on a fully indigenous engine which is at the final stage of development according to officials from DRDO.

Finally, Rustom II took flight hitting an altitude of 26,000 feet with an endurance of 18 hours. Further, the goal is to reach a 3000-km range, a service ceiling of 50,000 feet, with the ability to carry 3,000 kg weapon payload load. The payloads are still mostly sourced from Israel and include infrared (IR) sensors, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and maritime patrol radars, electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) packages.

Once the full spectrum of trials is completed, DRDO will hand over the technology to a public sector or a private aerospace partner for manufacturing. The export version is also planned.

Ghatak Autonomous UCAV

Ghatak is an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) that is among the most futuristic projects of DRDO. The concept is similar to the Turkish TB2 Bayraktar missile-armed UAVs which have been deployed in the Russian-Ukraine war.

Ghatak is an autonomous stealthy UCAV that will be armed with missiles and precision-guided munitions. It will be a flying-wing design with an internal weapons bay and a turbofan engine. The prototype is expected in 2024-25.

Earlier, it was named Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA). The design of the Ghatak UCAV is carried out by Aeronautical Development Agency ADA located in Bangalore. The full-scale prototype of the Ghatak UCAV will be put under test by the end of 2025. The Indian Navy is also interested in procuring deck-based UCAVs for Aircraft Carriers and Landing Platform Docks.

Stealth Wing Flying Testbed (SWiFT) 

DRDO’s SWiFT is a technology demonstrator of Ghatak UCAV. Basically, SWiFT is a “scaled-down version” of Ghatak which is under development. The main intent of the SWiFT UAV is to demonstrate and prove the stealth technology and high-speed landing technology in autonomous mode. In July 2022, it completed the taxi trials and the take-off and landing capabilities of SWiFT were demonstrated at the Aeronautical Test Range of the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) at Challakere in Karnataka.

Netra autonomous UAV

Netra is a lightweight (1.5 kg), autonomous UAV for ISR, developed by DRDO and IdeaForge, a Mumbai-based private firm. This is the first such success story where a private player demonstrated capabilities for manufacturing military-grade drones. Netra UAV has been deployed over 700 systems including with the Indian Army, Navy, and Indian Air Force among others.

Ideaforge can produce 10 UAVs per month. Building upon the base model, a more advanced version is under development.

The success of Netra UAV has opened a plethora of opportunities for private players. However, the biggest challenge is the design and development of sensors along with hardware like motors and propellers. The armed forces require drones that are precision-based and offer weaponised solutions. UAVs are already taking shape as an important element of asymmetric warfare.

https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/indias-quest-for-high-calibre-military-uavs-is-still-in-its-infancy/2931909/?utm_source=edu_landing_page&utm_medium=article_listing_widget&utm_campaign=Tags