Even as the UAVs have revolutionised warfare from Ukraine to Gaza and Armenia- Azerbaijan front in the Caucasus, India's indigenous fielding of the versatile platform remains in a limbo.
A significant missing link in the DRDO lab to battlefield products is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or Drones which today are seen as the core necessity in wars from Ukraine to Gaza, Lebanon and Azerbaijan and the Red Sea.
This noticeable gap has resulted in India depending on foreign procurement with the Israeli Searcher, Heron Mark-I and Mark II drones largely making up for the requirement of almost 150 UAVs in this category.
In addition drones for tactical purposes and one way or attack are also an essential in the warfare of today, but the DRDO has failed to provide one to the armed forces.
Most recently in a major setback to the DRDO, the programme for Tapas-BH (tactical aerial platform for advanced surveillance beyond horizon) has been abandoned as it could not meet the preliminary services qualitative requirements (PSQRs). “Tapas failed to meet essential PSQRs in terms of the altitude at which it should fly and its operational endurance. It has a flying endurance of only around 18 hours at an altitude of 28,000 feet,” a source was reported by the Times of India.
“A medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) remotely-piloted aircraft should be capable of operating at an altitude up to 30,000 feet for at least 24 hours. DRDO will now look at redesigning and redeveloping such a UAV,” the Times of India reported.
Now a Report in the India Today claims that the Tapas is not shelved but is downgraded from the mission mode projects and will be progressed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) laboratory to imrove the design and meet the service requirements of altitude and endurance. The drone has already undergone successful tests, reaching an altitude of 28,000 feet and demonstrating a flight duration of over 18 hours during trials as per the India Today.
The Indian Navy and Air Force have also shown an interest and are planning to conduct trials of the Tapas in the near future as per the India Today.
Clearly the plan to scrap the project has raised alarm bells and the Navy and the IAF are offering to bail out the DRDO. But will this reach a fruition remains to be seen?
Interestingly on January 10, Adani Defence and Aerospace delivered the first MALE drone to be “made” called Drishti10 Starliner, in collaboration with Israeli firm Elbit Systems, to the Navy. Two of these drones have already been ordered by the Army and the Navy and are based on the Israeli Hermes 900 Starliner and have a service ceiling of 30,000 feet with an endurance of 36 hours, under emergency procurement provisions.
The DRDO’s inability to provide a developed drone product to the armed forces is not due to lack of efforts as it has developed the Nishant and Rustom over a period but these failed to make the mark.
Is the lack of development of the UAV to a logical conclusion due to poor visualization of significance of the platform in future warfare by the armed forces and the DRDO or an intrinsic deficit or vested indigenous and foreign interests is an open question.
Clearly not just the DRDO but the armed forces will have much to answer for their inability to have an indigenous drone in their repertoire facing a two front challenge where China and Pakistan are demonstrating stellar capabilities in this domain.
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