Indian Police inducting UAS for anti terrorism patrols.

Indian Police are to start rolling out UAS to aid with jungle detection of terrorists reports the Times of India.  The police have previously trialed the  RQ-16 T Hawk. Honeywell had carried out live demonstration and trials for T-Hawk at the Counter-Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College in Kanker, Chattisgarh, in mid-April this year. Thereafter, a video demonstration of another Israeli UAV was shown to all concerned agencies. With a claimed flight time of eight hours for the new UAS we are guessing they did’nt go with the T Hawk. Instead it would seem a locally produced aircraft is to be used. Quite what we are not sure.

HYDERABAD: Police will induct an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to be used in Maoist-affected districts to track down the left wing extremists.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, director general of police (DGP) V Dinesh Reddy said the UAV would be helpful in tracking the Maoists even in dense forest areas. The UAV images would reach the police in real time so that forces could be mobilised to hunt them down.

“The UAV was procured at a cost of Rs 30 crore  the indigenous unmanned vehicle would operate from Madhurapudi airport in Rajahmundry. “It would help us track down movement (of naxalites) even in thick forests and also send back images,” he said.

The unmanned vehicle would carry two payloads, one of which would take images and send the same to the control centre in a flash. “The night vision cameras can take pictures at an angle of even 360 degrees. Naxalites sometimes cook food in forests and even the smoke can be detected,” he added.

The vehicle is presently stationed at the Begumpet airport and it took images of the zoo park on a trial basis. “The animals and zoo staff could be easily identified in the images,” the DGP said. Currently based at Begumpet airport are IAI Herons

The unmanned aerial vehicle can fly for eight hours at a stretch and would be used to scan four districts of Telangana in Dhandakaranya forest and in East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam districts and also parts of Chhattisgarh and south and central Orissa on the AndhraOrissa Border (AOB) forest area.

Currently based at Begumpet airport are IAI Herons

The other payload carried by the craft will be able to detect voice signals transmitted through VHF and UHF sets and send the message to the control station. “With imagery and voice tracking, our fields units would be able to react swiftly against the naxalites,” Dinesh Reddy said.