Rise Of The Drones: Challenges In India's Military UAV Development

Indian efforts aimed at developing armed UAVs have not met with much success because our UAVs have very limited payloads and our sensors and weapons aren't adequately miniaturised, writes RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHA

- Rakesh Krishnan Simha

What was once merely a flying camera in the air is now poised to be an integral element of India’s surveillance and strike forces. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, since getting its first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from Israel in 1998, India has topped the list of drone-importing nations, accounting for 22.5 per cent of the world’s imports between 1985 and 2014.

Most of India’s drones operate in the civilian sphere, but in recent years there has been a huge increase in demand for military UAVs. This is primarily due to four reasons:

• Key sectors of India’s extensive land and sea borders need to be monitored round the clock.

• China is conducting research in cutting-edge swarm UAV research while also exporting military drones to Pakistan.

• In the event of an all-out war, Indian Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) – or combat drones – may lead the first wave of attacks against critical targets inside enemy territory. The seriousness with which India is pursuing this option can be measured from the Indian Air Force’s announcement in 2015 that it was in the process of setting up a dedicated cadre for flying UAVs.