Everything You Need To Know About The Heron-TP Armed Drone India Might Soon Get

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel might soon result in a deal to equip the Indian Air Force with the Heron-TP armed drone, details here.

By Stephen

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have constantly been in the headlines across the world, especially over the last three days, the reason being Modi's visit to Israel. India and Israel have had strong strategic and diplomatic ties for over a couple of decades now, but it was only last week that Mr Modi became the first Prime Minister to visit Israel.

India and Israel have for long been brothers in arms, quite literally! India is the largest buyer of arms and ammunition from Israel, accounting for 41 percent of Israel's defence equipment exports. And Israel is India's third largest supplier of arms, accounting for 7.2 percent of defence imports, after Russia (68 percent) and U.S (14 percent).

Details Of The Indo-Israeli Armed Drone Deal

So, obviously, one would expect Modi's historic visit to bring forth a new deal to develop or import defence equipment. Other than non-security deals relating to water conservation and infrastructure, the two countries signed a few defence deals as a result of this historic visit, including a deal to set up a maintenance plant for the Barak 8, an aerial defence system jointly developed by Israel and India.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has partnered with Kalyani Strategic Systems, a private company from India, to set up the plant. The same plant would also be producing precision munitions. IAI has also signed a deal with Wipro Infrastructure Engineering to transfer knowledge about manufacturing composite aerostructure parts in India.

Details Of The Indo-Israeli Armed Drone Deal

However, the one deal that caught the attention of most media houses around the world, was that of a deal that has nearly come through. This is the deal where, India was to purchase Heron TP armed drones in order to bolster security. Well, according to Israeli media sources the deal has not been confirmed yet but is almost there.

The Indian Air Force already operates a previous variant of the Heron-TP - Heron Machatz as a surveillance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Back in 2015, the Indian government approved the Indian Air Force's request to acquire the armed Heron-TP drones. Since India became part of the Missile Technology Control Regime in 2016, it is now capable of acquiring these missile-equipped drones.

Details Of The Indo-Israeli Armed Drone Deal

The IAI Heron-TP is an advanced, Medium Altitude Long Endurance drone with all-weather capability. This coupled with the fact that it can fly up to an altitude of 45,000 feet makes it perfect for combat at all times. It can fly for over 30 hours at a stretch while carrying a payload of around 1,000 kgs. The drone is also ATOL (Automatic Taxi-Takeoff-Landing) compliant and exceeds NATO standards for drones. The Heron-TP is capable of flying autonomous mode and can be supervised by a single operator without the need for any external pilot.

Also called as the Eitan, the armed Heron-TP drones can help India in offensive strikes with less/no potential damage to defence personnel as they are also capable of detecting, tracking and firing at targets with air to ground missiles.

Details Of The Indo-Israeli Armed Drone Deal

India seems to have taken inspiration from the U.S Air Force in the use of these drones, as the USAF regularly uses their MQ-1 predators and Globalhawks to take out terrorists in Afganistan. The advantages are obvious. If a UAV can see targets while on surveillance, they should also have the capability to strike them immediately rather than calling for backup and having to deploy other aircraft or ground troops to do that job.

When looked at from the Indian point of view and growing concerns about terrorist launch pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the Indian Air Force can deploy these drones, upon receiving information from ground troops about a particular terrorist launch pad being active or of offensive attacks by the enemy forces at a particular location.

Details Of The Indo-Israeli Armed Drone Deal

These drones can then not just spot the enemy, but also fire at them, from 30,000 feet over the ground, then return to base, causing more damage than troops can, with no risk to the soldiers' lives.

The drones can also be used if a terrorist hideout is located in the mountainous regions of Kashmir. Missiles can be fired at the hideout, which sometimes can be a cave or even a valley region which cannot be reached by the Army's trucks, and troops could take a long time to march there. It is to be noted that India has not used air power in resolving the uprising issue of Kashmir, yet.

Details Of The Indo-Israeli Armed Drone Deal

The Heron-TP is a medium sized drone, measuring 14 metres in length and has a wingspan of 26 metres. The single Pratt and Whitney PT-6A 1,200 bhp engine is capable of powering it to a top speed of 241 km/h.

The Heron-TP will be bought by India as part of a larger $400 million dollar deal.

Details Of The Indo-Israeli Armed Drone Deal

DriveSpark Thinks!

The acquisition of these armed drones might just make life easier for the Indian ground troops while keeping pilots safe and well out of enemy territory. The Americans chose not to sell their drones to India, but since Israel is close ally of India, they might just agree to do so.

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Read more on: #off beat
Article Published On: Friday, July 7, 2017, 16:50 [IST]
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