Government clears proposal for buying 15 Israeli-made UAVs

New Delhi: Boosting surveillance capabilities of the Army along the borders with China and Pakistan, the government has cleared the procurement of around 15 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from Israel at a cost of around Rs. 1200 crore.

A proposal to procure these Heron UAVs was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at its recent meeting, sources told PTI.

The deal will bolster the Israeli-origin Heron and Searcher fleet of the force which deploys them on both the eastern and western sectors, they said.

The force has a fleet of more than 40 such vehicles, which are expected to undergo upgrades in the near future. The Air Force flies the Israeli-made Searcher II and Heron UAVs for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes and about 100 Searchers are in operation on Indian borders in western, northern and eastern regions.

After the upgrades, the Air Force would be capable of operating these aircraft from far-off distances and control them through satellite communication system.

The Army also operates a sizable number of UAVs and has deployed them in borders along the western and eastern fronts.

The Army was the first to induct UAVs in the 90s starting with Searcher Mark-I and Searcher Mark-II which could operate at an altitude of 15,000 feet and finally the Heron, which can operate at 30,000 feet.

The Army’s Northern Command had recently issued a global tender for procuring latest miniature UAVs for intelligence gathering and carrying out reconnaissance of areas along Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and the Sino-India border.

The Navy has also three operational squadrons of the Israeli UAVs deployed along both the eastern and the western sea boards.