The Indian Navy plans to acquire a sizeable number of unmanned aerial and underwater platforms in the next few years to significantly ramp up its surveillance capability in the backdrop of China's increasing forays into the Indian Ocean region, people familiar with the development said on Sunday.
The acquisition will be made as part of a roadmap on unmanned platforms, which was finalised at a conference of the top naval commanders last month that had extensively deliberated on the need to procure new-age platforms, they said.
"The roadmap delves into the requirement of unmanned platforms and provides a direction to meet the demand while ensuring the optimum utilisation of the resources," said one of the people cited above.
Though the Navy will primarily focus on acquiring the unmanned platforms from within the country, it will also look at the best available drones and other related systems in the global market.
"The key focus will be to boost the surveillance in the strategically key waterways, in sync with developments in the Indian Ocean region," said a secod person.
The people said the key focus has been to enhance the capabilities in the areas of long-range anti-submarine warfare (ASW), surveillance and reconnaissance.
In sync with the roadmap for unmanned platforms, the third aircraft carrier is set to be designed to accommodate both fighter jets and a fleet of drones, they said.
Indian armed forces have been focussing on procuring unmanned platforms, including armed...
Read Full Story: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/indian-navy-to-enhance-surveillance-capability-to-focus-on-acquiring-new-age-tech/articleshow/87833892.cms
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.