Signs of life

UVonline
The Indian UAS market is looking strong
after years of stagnation. Neelam Mathews
rounds up the latest development

Thanks to the government’s push to

‘Make in India’ combined with some longoverdue

action on procurement decisions

that had taken a back seat for the past decade,

UAVs are high on the agenda for military and

security agencies.

Newly forged public-private partnerships

are driving growth in an industry that was

previously restricted by slow-moving statesector

development programmes.

Given the country’s manufacturing boom,

‘initiatives of development are being done in

India [now] at multiple levels as sources of

technology are dispersed, and are not

dependent on just one or two OEMs’, said

Rahul Gangal, partner in the

New Delhi office of Roland

Berger Strategy Consultants.

India’s 6Wresearch has

forecast the domestic UAV

market will reach $421 million

by 2021, although this figure may need to be

revised given the increased thirst for

procurement. India remains among the

top buyers of UAVs, accounting for some

22% of imports worldwide, with Israel as its

leading supplier.

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 MILITARY MATTERS

The Indian Army has commissioned over 45 IAI

Herons with a plan to acquire 20 more, while

the Indian Navy (IN) currently has two

squadrons operating a mix of Herons and IAI

Searchers in the south of the country and one

in the western state of Gujarat, which has a

1,600km coastline.

‘These UAVs will enhance the joint warwaging

capability in the region by

synergising the capabilities of the army, air

force, coast guard and local authorities,’ a

navy statement said.

The unit in Gujarat allows the IN to patrol the

northern part of the Arabian Sea and is well

placed for covering the sea lanes of

communication from the Persian Gulf as well as

providing surveillance for high-value assets.

The Searcher has an 8.5m wingspan and is

capable of carrying EO camera, ESM or COMINT

payloads. Heron is a larger aircraft with a 16m

wingspan and its payloads include a maritime

patrol radar.

MALE and HALE UAVs serve strategic needs

and are traditionally difficult platforms for

countries to develop independently, with

access to many technologies being restricted.

As neither India nor Israel are signatories to the

Missile Technology Control Regime, which

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COUNTRY FOCUS

UNMANNED Vehicles | August/September 2015 | Volume 20 Number 4 www.UVonline.com

prevents proliferation of UAVs capable of

carrying a 500kg payload for at least 300km,

acquiring Herons and Searchers makes sense

for the IN.

Plans for upgrading the in-service aircraft

with ‘advanced sensors and a satellite

[communications] capability are being

discussed’, an Indian MoD official told

Unmanned Vehicles.

An RfI was released in January for a naval

shipboard UAV capable of operating from

vessel over 50m long with a helicopter deck.

‘The navy probably lost its patience waiting for

an indigenous programme for a similar product

using Chetak helicopters that is facing

challenges,’ said a source at one UAV OEM. The

follow-on RfP for 50 systems is to be released by

the end of 2015, UV understands, and will be

addressed to Indian companies acting as the

prime with foreign OEM partners.

The IN has laid down specifications for MALE

and HALE UAVs with payloads such as maritime

patrol radar, AIS, COMINT, electronic cameras, IR

and satellite data links for extended range. The

service is also looking at UAV full flight

simulators, procurement of which will be

carried out under a joint services contract.

􀂄􀂄 SECURITY CHALLENGES

Mini and micro UAVs are critical to meeting

immediate homeland security needs, although

the challenges are many. ‘This is achievable in

India as long as major aggregates such as

payload, propulsion and inertial navigation

issues are addressed,’ said Gangal.

While the Indian Army has yet to announce

its specifications, RfPs have already been issued

in June by the Central Reserve Police Force for

two mini-UAVs and the National Security Guard

for 12 micro-UAV systems.

International partnerships are also taking

shape. The US-India Defense Technology and

Trade Initiative (DTTI), an agreement recently

extended up to 2025, defines steps to boost

bilateral defence partnerships, and now

incorporates for the first time a provision to

co-produce weapons in India along with the

transfer of technology.

One of four ‘Pathfinder Projects’ identified

under DTTI is a next-generation mini UAV

named Cheel (‘eagle’ in Hindi) involving

Bangalore-based Dynamatic Technologies and

US developer AeroVironment. Dynamatic has

been a developmental partner of the Defence

Research and Development Organisation

(DRDO), working since the 1990s on Lakshya

UAV prototypes.

‘Under the DTTI Dynamatic and

AeroVironment are putting their best-of-breed

capabilities to strategically co-develop and

co-produce the world’s most advanced mini-

UAS for global markets,’ said Udayant

Malhoutra, CEO and managing director of

Dynamatic.

The Cheel programme will build upon over

two million hours of combat flying that

AeroVironment UAS products have undergone

in diverse environments including mountains,

deserts, jungles, sea and urban areas, he added.

The cooperation programme will leverage

AeroVironment’s family of small UAS,

which includes the Puma AE, Raven, Wasp

AE and Shrike.

‘Combining Dynamatic’s precision

engineering capabilities with AeroVironment’s

innovation and production in small UAS will not

only produce an unmanned aircraft system

specifically for the Indian market, but will also

establish the foundation for a vibrant industry of

the future in India,’ said Thomas Cunningham,

VP for UAS strategy at AeroVironment.

The prototype will be made entirely in India

over the next 12 months. The Cheel’s design

will be an evolution of the lightweight 5kg

RQ-11B Raven and 12kg Puma. ‘We’re going to

take the form factor of Raven and features of

Puma. We’re moving the propeller forward… it

will fly higher (longer wings) and is easy to

launch,’ Cunningham told UV earlier this year.

􀂄􀂄 IN THE FRAME

An initiative by Boeing and Tata Advanced

Systems Ltd (TASL) in July resulted in a

framework agreement to collaborate in

aerospace and defence manufacturing and

potentially integrated systems development,

including UAVs.

TASL has set up a design, development and

production facility to manufacture a range of

mini-UAVs covering systems weighing a few

hundred grams with basic surveillance

capabilities and larger models that have more

advanced ISTAR functions. One system

consists of three UAVs and a GCS, providing

continuous surveillance over a designated

area. The system is stored in backpacks that

can be manually transported over all terrains

for immediate deployment.

Airbus Defence and Space (DS) and Kolkatabased

Kadet Defence Systems (KDS) recently

signed an exclusive strategic cooperation

agreement covering the sale and marketing of

products and services in the aerial targets field.

The two have teamed up initially to offer the

Airbus DS Manoeuvrable Expendable Aerial

Target (MEAT) to the Indian Air Force and

Army. The agreement sets out a roadmap for

technology transfer, joint product

development, local manufacturing and

provision of joint services in the Asia-Pacific

region. ‘This underlines our willingness to find

mutually productive ventures in line with the

“Make in India” concept,’ said Peter Gutsmiedl,

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