India To Spend $3 Billion To Procure 5000+ UAVs In 10 Years

The Indian government has prepared a blueprint to spend nearly $3 billion for procuring more than 5000 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles over the next 10 years.

“Only state-run Indian companies could get tenders, as the government has no immediate plan to directly involve foreign companies in the project. However, domestic companies will be allowed to tie up with foreign firms (if they want),” InSerbia reported quoted unnamed sources as saying Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi a couple of days back, a senior ministry official said that the government would invite private sector companies to join the project in the future, as it would be difficult to meet all future requirements of UAVs without their participation.

As per the blueprint, the Army will receive UAVs down to the battalion level in the next three to five years, while the Air Force will get fully operational squadrons of surveillance UAVs and Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV). The two forces will also be equipped with man-portable mini and micro UAVs for short-range surveillance, and nuclear, biological, chemical detection in the battlefield. Earlier, the Army, Air Force and Navy urged the government to purchase tactical UAVs, High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) UAVs, Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) UAVs, and Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance (MALE) UAVs for them.

The Indian government will call for fresh tenders for a variety of UAVs after completing the study on development of a bomber UAV and a fighter UAV in the next couple of years, the news daily quoted an unnamed official as saying.