Indian Army To Scrap Nishant UAV Induction

The India Army will abandon its indigenous drone program inducting the Nishant surveillance drone after a second UAV crashed on Thursday.

The domestic drone development program of the Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) might very well be closed. Of the four drones supplied to the Indian Army, this is the second drone crash with the last fortnight and the third overall. The Army has put the induction of eight more such drones under the Phase-II on hold. The Army had inducted four UAVs in the initial phase in 2011.

The 90 crore (US $13 million) project was started in 1995. DRDO had alleged poor handling by the Army in the first two crashes but the Army officials claim Nishant was based on an outdated technology and had technical problems, The Hindu news daily reported Friday.

India is reportedly preparing the wheeled-version of Nishant for its maiden flight soon. The Panchi UAV will be capable of taking off and landing from semi-prepared runways, thereby reducing the turnaround time between missions.

India operates Israeli Searcher-II, Heron drones for reconnaissance and long range surveillance.