NEW DELHI: The Indian Armed Forces over the next decade want over 400drones, including combat and submarine-launched remotely piloted aircraft,as well as directed energy weapons (DEWs) like high-energy lasers andhigh-powered microwaves capable of destroying enemy targets and evensatellites.
Several such military capabilitieslink>have beenidentified in the defence ministry’s new “Technology Perspective andCapability Roadmap-2018” to provide the industry with an overview of thecountry’s offensive and defensive military requirements up to the late2020s.
“This roadmap may guide the industry in planning or initiating technologydevelopment, partnerships and production arrangements. While pursuing anydevelopment or collaboration, the Indian industry should accord dueimportance to the government’s thrust towards ‘Make in India’,” says the82-page document.
Apart from obvious necessities ranging from next-generation submarines,destroyers and frigates to missiles, infantry weapons, specializedammunition and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) defencesystems, the document focuses on a wide variety of unmanned aerial vehicleslink>(UAVs) or dronesneeded by the armed forces.
Drones are major force-multipliers in modern-day warfare for real-timesurveillance as well as hitting high-value enemy targets. The armed forcescurrently have over 200 drones, the bulk of them imported from Israel forlong-range surveillance and precision-targeting. They also have someIsraeli Harop “killer” or Kamikaze drones, which act as cruise missiles byexploding into enemy targets and radars.
Even as DRDO works on developing the Ghatak stealth UCAVslink> (combat drones)under a Rs 2,650 crore project, the roadmap says the Army and Navy willneed “more than 30” combat remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA).
“The medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) combat RPA should have thecapability to fly up to 30,000-feet altitude, with extended satellitecommunication ranges and endurance of more than 24 hours,” says thedocument. The drones should be capable of firing missiles at land andmaritime targets from over 20-km away.
Moreover, the Army and Navy require 100-150 MALE spy drones, with theformer also needing 55-70 stealth, 50 short-range and 30 hybrid RPAs. TheNavy, in turn, also wants over 50 HALE (high-altitude, long endurance)drones that can be launched vertically from warships as well as 10submarine-launched RPAs.
As for DEWS, which may be strategic game-changers in future wars, theroadmap says the Army and IAF need at least 20 “tactical high-energy lasersystems” that can destroy “small aerial targets”, electronic warfare andradars systems at a range of 6-8 km in Phase-I.
In Phase-II, the laser systems should have a range of over 20-km to take on”soft-skinned” vehicles and troops as well as satellites from ground andaerial platforms. Similarly, at least 20 high-power electromagnetic weaponsystems are required for the forces, with 6-8 km range in Phase-I and over15-km in Phase-II.
As reported by TOI earlier,
DRDO is working on
several DEW projects, ranging from the vehicle-mounted “Aditya” gas dynamiclaser systems to “chemical oxygen iodine” and “high-power fiber” lasers.But they are some distance away from becoming fully-operational. Times ofIndia