With its neighbors Pakistan and China developing indigenous UAVs, India has asked Israel to speed the delivery of 10 medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) Heron TPs to the Indian Air Force, valued at $400 million at list price. The armed Herons will join the service’s existing fleet of UAVs and are expected to enter service by late 2016.
The IAF already has a large fleet of IAI Searcher and Heron I unmanned aircraft, Harpy UAVs designed to attack radar systems and the expendable Harop, a loitering weapon designed to attack surface targets. It is contemplating forming a “weapon systems cadre” that will include drones and weapons managed by pilots. “The difference will now be that [pilots] will be inducted and promoted as a squad unlike in the past,” the service said.
In March, Pakistan flight-tested the “indigenously developed” Burraq, a MALE unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), hitting moving targets with the Barq laser-guided missile, which is analogous to the Chinese AR-1. The Burraq gained attention in September when Pakistan’s army claimed to have used it to kill militants in that country’s uneasy tribal regions.
29/09/15 Neelam Mathews/AINonline
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The IAF already has a large fleet of IAI Searcher and Heron I unmanned aircraft, Harpy UAVs designed to attack radar systems and the expendable Harop, a loitering weapon designed to attack surface targets. It is contemplating forming a “weapon systems cadre” that will include drones and weapons managed by pilots. “The difference will now be that [pilots] will be inducted and promoted as a squad unlike in the past,” the service said.
In March, Pakistan flight-tested the “indigenously developed” Burraq, a MALE unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), hitting moving targets with the Barq laser-guided missile, which is analogous to the Chinese AR-1. The Burraq gained attention in September when Pakistan’s army claimed to have used it to kill militants in that country’s uneasy tribal regions.
29/09/15 Neelam Mathews/AINonline
