THE INDIAN SCENARIO

For over a decade-and-a-half, the Indian armed forces and intelligence agencies have been operating the Searcher Mk II and the Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) acquired from Israel. These platforms have been and can only be employed for reconnaissance and surveillance, their role effectively being limited to intelligence gathering. The Indian aerospace industry in the public sector has designed, developed and manufactured UAVs though of relatively lower capability, such as the Lakshya and the Nishant. These UAVs have been in service for a considerable period of time. Other indigenous platforms that have been under development for some time are the two variants of the Rustom. Three years ago, the Indian Air Force (IAF) inducted a few of the Harop unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) from Israel. This is a loitering platform designed for suppression of enemy air defence or SEAD missions and is armed with explosives. However, the Harop does not drop bombs of fire missiles; it destroys the target by crashing into it.

The Indian aerospace industry is currently engaged in developing the autonomous unmanned combat aerial vehicle designated as the autonomous unmanned research aircraft (AURA). The platform is planned to be inducted into the IAF and the Indian Navy. Details of the platform are classified and hence are not available in public domain.

Although unmanned platforms are relatively a recent innovation in the regime of military aviation, the leading air forces of the world are now inclined to accord these machines greater preference compared to manned aircraft. In fact, every year, the USAF trains more UAV operators than combat pilots. The erstwhile US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates would be the last manned fighter the USAF would buy. For the IAF, as also for other air forces, acquisition, operation and maintenance of large fleets of manned combat aircraft is tending to become increasingly unaffordable. The recent shift of focus of the IAF from manned combat aircraft to unmanned platforms, both to UAVs and UCAVs, was therefore inevitable and quite understandable. Also, in the context of the rapidly dwindling fleet of combat aircraft in the IAF, the need to induct advanced modern unmanned platforms both for reconnaissance and combat, has acquired a high degree of urgency. However, as the pace of development of unmanned platforms by the Indian aerospace industry has been extremely tardy, the IAF would have no option but to explore options for the acquisition of the required capability from foreign sources.