Article Posted on : - Dec 30, 2008

DRDO photo of test flight of Nishant in June, 2008

NEW DELHI (BNS): India's Defence Research and Development Organisation is looking for a private partner to develop a medium range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). This would be a new beginning to launch a project in joint collaboration of a military product.

For years, Indian government had kept the private companies away from defence R&D but the situation is changing. DRDO is looking for private partner for UAV production, as it wants to speed up the process of development.

It can evolve the technology and transfer it to industry for bulk production. Most of the DRDO projects have been delayed. Their transfer to industry has taken further time. The government agency can only develop products but it has to depend on the industry to take it forward through mass production.

India's Defence Minister AK Antony informed Parliament last week that DRDO has been authorised to associate with a production and development partner from eligible industries on a competitive basis.

DRDO has already launched the project and invited requests for proposal from four short-listed partners. The armed forces need a medium-range and long endurance UAV to strengthen its surveillance capabilities. Instead of looking for a foreign supplier, DRDO has decided to go for home production. It hopes that all the three services would be interested in buying the indigenous UAV.

The private partner is expected to absorb the technologies and also provide product support after induction. At the moment, the armed forces rely heavily on UAVs supplied by Israeli vendors. There is a need to develop a UAV, which can perform in all weather conditions. At the moment, UAV operations were not feasible in the overcast conditions. It becomes difficult to retrieve the aircraft if weather packs up. It is a major problem, as key operations cannot take place in inclement weather due to inadequate UAV support.

DRDO has developed two UAVS -- Nishant, a tactical UAV and the Lakshya, pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA). The Lakshya PTA has been ordered by all three services for their gunnery target training requirements even as efforts to develop it further are underway.

Nishant is a hydraulically launched short ranged UAV for the tactical battle area, and the Indian Army has ordered 12 units. While the Navy and the Indian Paramilitary forces are also evaluating it, the Indian Air Force is unlikely to commission it, as it does not meet their requirement for a long range, high endurance UAV with a heavy payload.

In the absence of the indigenous UAVs, India is almost fully dependent on Israel to fulfill its requirement. UAVs play an important role in key operations in all the forces. Army, air force and navy have their own UAV squadrons.