State-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is working on an AI-driven multi-role, advanced an꧒d long-endurance drone for strategic missions in high-altitude areas including along the🀅 frontiers with China, people familiar with the development said on Sunday.
The rotary-wing drone will have the capability to carry a load of 40 kgs, including missiles and sensors, and it is being developed considering the requirement of the armed forces to keep a strong vigil over the mountainous ar🤪eas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), they said.
The HAL has s🍸et a target of conducting the maiden test-flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by the middle of next year and plans to produce 60 such platforms in the first phase of the project, the people iꦡn the know said.
They said the operating system of the long-endurance drone will feature applications🔯 of Artificial Intelligence and the armedꦺ forces will be able to use it for multiple purposes including transporting essential supplies.
"The drone is being developed in such a way that it can carry a wide range of vital military systems including sensors, missiles and various other weapons," said one of the p✤eople cited above🥂.
Separately, HAL is also looking at the possibility of producing the Israeli Heron TP drones in collaboration with its manufacturer u꧙nder an ambitious project.
"This project is aimed at addressing the requirement✨ of our armed forces as well as global supplies," the person said.
The medium-altitude Heron drones are capable of operating for nearly 45 hours at an altitude o♉f up to 35,000 feet.
The Heron TP drones are equipped with automatic taxi-ta꧟keoff and landing (ATOL) and satellite communication (SATCOM) systems for an extended range.
The HAL is also workin🍃g on two separate drone projects𝓰 with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The three services are planning to acquire a ꧃sizeable number of unmanned aerial platforms in the next few years to significantly ramp up their surveillance capability, particularly to monitor Chinese aꦉctivities along the LAC and Indian Ocean Region.
Each of the three services has drawn up plans for the acquis💟ition of the new-age platforms.
The armed forces have been focusing♋ on procuring unmanned platforms including armed drones foꦐllowing the eastern Ladakh standoff with China and a drone strike on the Jammu airbase last year.
Explosives-laden drones were used to carry out the attack on the Jammu Air Force station in June last year in the first such instance of suspected Pakistan-based terrorists deploying unma🐼nned aerial vehicles to strike at vital m🍌ilitary installations in India.
India is also planning to procure around 30 multi-mission armed Predator drones from the US f⛄or the three services at an estimated cost of over USD 3 billion.
In November 2020, the ওNavy g﷽ot two non-weaponised MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones from the US on lease.
(With PTI inputs)
