UAVs, Drones, Remote Surveillance Tech

[PaulJI]

Since the Israelis already make the Heron, a Predator clone, will they then be building something like this, and would it be worth it for India to get it?

The Heron is not a Predator clone. Look at a couple of pictures -

Heron -
http://www.flightglobal.com/assets/getA ... emID=11692
Predator -
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/predator-7.jpg

Nothing like each other, except the similar size & weight.

But if your question is whether the Israelis will build a bigger UAV than Heron or Predator, in the class of Reaper, then the answer is that they already have done. Flew last year -
http://www.flug-revue.rotor.com/FRTypen/FRHerTP.htm
http://www.defense-update.com/products/e/eitan-UAV.htm

[NRao]

AWST, Sept 3, 2007:

[quote]
World News & Analysis

MiG and Sukhoi Battle for UCAV Program
Aviation Week & Space Technology
09/03/2007, page 30


Douglas Barrie and Alexey Komarov
Zhukovsky, Russia



UCAVs emerge as latest area of Russian interest as programs show renewed impetus


Printed headline: Capability and Intent


Airframers MiG and Sukhoi are vying to interest the Russian air force in a stealthy strike unmanned combat air vehicle.

The MiG program is one of the two competing designs that will be presented to the Russian defense ministry as a UCAV for the air-to-surface role. MiG is the first to unveil its unmanned combat air vehicle concept. Russian air force chief, Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin, says the development of combat-capable unmanned platforms is a priority.

Sukhoi will not comment on any of its work in this area. However, it previously showed concepts for long-endurance reconnaissance and surveillance UAV designs, while also generally recognizing the potential for UCAV requirements.

The emergence of a UCAV “requirementâ€

[Gaurav_S]

India wants UAV that can be missile

NEW DELHI: India might still be some years away from inducting combat UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) but is on the verge of acquiring spy drones which itself act like cruise missiles.

Defence ministry sources say the Army, Navy and IAF are now drafting a combined proposal to purchase Israeli Harpy UAVs, which are designed to detect and attack enemy radar.

"Indian teams went to Israel to see the Harpys in action last year. Their purchase has now been approved in principle," said a source.

This comes after the use of armed UAVs like the Predators -- which let loose Hellfire missiles with devastating effect during the US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- came as an eye-opener for the Indian military brass.

While it will take time to acquire Predator-like UAVs, which are remotely controlled through satellite communication from thousands of miles away, India is now actively seeking Israel's help to gain some much-needed muscle in this arena.

Incidentally, the Army is also looking to acquire miniature Israeli UAVs like 'Skylite-B' and 'I-View', which are man-portable and quite stealthy in nature, for its special forces.

But coming back to the Harpy, it first tracks and verifies hostile radar emissions after being launched in any kind of weather. It then enters into an attack mode to dive almost vertically and finally, detonates its warhead just above the enemy radar to effectively "kill'' it.

Treating Harpy basically as "an anti-radiation missile", Indian forces plan to mount it on the long endurance, medium-altitude ‘Heron' strategic UAVs already acquired from Israel.

The "lethal" system will then be used as a combination of seeker and killer drone, which will even make it possible to attack enemy targets even after their emitters are turned off.

Incidentally, China had procured some Harpy anti-radar UAVs from Israel in the 1990s in a secret deal, which left the US fuming. Washington, in fact, even asked Tel Aviv to block such deals in the future.

Washington, for instance, had also managed to put pressure on Tel Aviv to cancel a signed deal with China for Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems). India, incidentally, will progressively get three Israeli Phalcons from mid-2008 onwards under a $1.1-billion deal signed in March 2004.

As for spy drones, since the 1999 Kargil conflict, Indian forces have inducted well over 60 Israeli Searcher-II, Heron and other UAVs as "force-multipliers'' in reconnaissance missions as well as for precision-strike operations.

The Army, for instance, is soon going to operationalise two new UAV squadrons of Herons, with eight drones each for Srinagar-based 15 Corps and Leh-based 14 Corps.

The Navy, on its part, is using its eight Searchers and four Herons for medium-range surveillance up to 200 nautical miles over the seas, greatly boosting its maritime snooping capabilities.

The IAF has also bolstered its UAV force to over five squadrons now, with the last three being procured from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) for Rs 576 crore during 2003. And now, the aim of all the three Services is to move towards inducting combat UAVs

TOI

[Vick]

Maya - National Institute of Oceanography AUV

[shetty]

Now this gets interesting ...

U.S. seeks Asian partners for Global Hawk eye in sky

[rkhanna]

Global Hawks and some Predators armed with Hellfires should do nicely for the Indian Armed Forces..However this is serious tech..i doubt uncle will let us have without serious strings attached.

[rkhanna]

Global Hawks and some Predators armed with Hellfires should do nicely for the Indian Armed Forces..However this is serious tech..i doubt uncle will let us have without serious strings attached.

[JCage]

"Partner countries could allow alternative landing and launch sites for the Global Hawk.

The United States is initially pitching the Global Hawk consortium idea to Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Brunei and Sri Lanka."

Wont happen. Not unless it is Indian operated and we decide what the data sharing agreement includes.

But being poor SDRE Indians, we'll make do with Herons with Lahats/Harpies/ Griffin LGBs.

[Sanjay M]

Here is another update on

DARPA's HI-MEMS Program for Cyborg-Insects

If this concept works, then it could prove to be the ultimate solution against terrorist/guerrilla/asymmetric warfare.

[JaiS]

Reaper UAV Now Flying in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON --- The Air Force announced Oct. 11 that the MQ-9 Reaper, the service's new hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle, is now flying operational missions in Afghanistan. The MQ-9 has completed 12 missions since its inaugural flight there Sept. 25, averaging about one sortie per day.

The Reaper is larger and more heavily-armed than the MQ-1 Predator. In addition to its traditional ISR capabilities, it is designed to attack time-sensitive targets with persistence and precision, and destroy or disable those targets. To date, Reaper operators have not been called upon to drop their weapons on enemy positions.

Like the Predator, the Reaper is launched, recovered and maintained at deployed locations, while being remotely operated by pilots and sensor operators at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. That is where the resemblance ends. The MQ-9 has nearly nine times the range, can fly twice as high and carries more munitions.

[abhischekcc]

Here is another update on

DARPA's HI-MEMS Program for Cyborg-Insects

If this concept works, then it could prove to be the ultimate solution against terrorist/guerrilla/asymmetric warfare.

Don't bet on it.. How long do you think it will take for some one to invent the EMP grenade? Take out a bunch of these critters in one go.

Or, if you have played the Halo game, you will know that a shot does the job equally well.

[narasimba]

how long would it take to create a medium range UAV that can fire the air launched NAG missile? looks like we need them soon, really soon

is the development of a long endurance turbofan the achilles heel in this endeavor?

how are the following helpful in this context?

LCA fires a R-73

With so much investment in composites, creating a turbofan engine with lots of composites

over the horizon datalinks by long range radars, AWACS and Sat systems

[saptarishi]

MOD developing unmanned fighter-bomber
Smart jet will track and destroy targets autonomously

Ian Williams, vnunet.com 02 Nov 2007

ADVERTISEMENTBAE Systems has cut the first steel on its £124m project to develop Britain's first unmanned fighter-bomber for the Ministry of Defence.

The Taranis project, named after the Celtic god of thunder, forms part of the UK's Strategic Unmanned Air Vehicle Experimental programme.

BAE Systems is working with Rolls-Royce, Smiths Aerospace, QinetiQ and MoD military staff and scientists to develop and fly Taranis.

The jet has a bat-wing design, and is about the same size as a BAE Systems Hawk. It will be armed with a cannon, bombs and missiles, allowing it to autonomously track and destroy other aircraft and targets.

"This is a machine able to think for itself," said Chris Allam, project director at BAE Systems.

"It is a new generation of unmanned air vehicles which will not need a pilot on the ground with a joystick. It will be assigned an area to operate in and will acquire and track targets autonomously."

In the movie Stealth, the US Navy develops a fighter jet piloted by an artificial intelligence computer. However, the jet goes rogue and nearly incites a war before being destroyed by human fighter pilots.

BAE Systems allayed fears of a similar scenario by explaining that human authorisation will always be required before Taranis can use any of its weaponry.

"Taranis will make use of at least 10 years of R&D into low observables, systems integration, control infrastructure and full autonomy," said Mark Kane, managing director of autonomous systems and future capability at BAE Systems.

"It follows the completion of risk reduction activities to ensure that the mix of technologies, materials and systems are robust enough for the next logical step."

Taranis is not expected completely to replace human operated planes, but will be useful in situations such as surveillance flights, or when operating in highly dangerous or contaminated environments.

Ground testing is expected to take place in early 2009, and the first flight trials are scheduled to take place in 2010. Taranis could be fully operational within 10 years

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/22027 ... y-unmanned
http://www.airforce-technology.com/proj ... aris1.html

[gauravjkale]

and here we are still trying to make planes which we are not sure will fly properly even its humans flying them....

[Ajay K]

gauravjkale Posted: 05 Nov 2007 11:30 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and here we are still trying to make planes which we are not sure will fly properly even its humans flying them....

Well, if we partner with the russians on the SKAT UAV things could be different. US is taking the hard way of learning by graduating from Prediator to the Reaper to ...X-47B

[Neshant]

everything is just purchased from abroad.

an opportunity for local players to develop their r&d skills is thus lost.

-------------------------



India seeks micro UAVs

By Vivek Raghuvanshi
October 26, 2007
http://www.c4isrjournal.com/story.php?F=3139580

The Indian Army is on a global hunt to buy unspecified numbers of micro UAVs to fly surveillance missions in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir and for anti-insurgency operations in the country’s northeast.

Bids have been sent to companies that make the Bird Eye (Israel Aerospace Industries), FanTail (Singapore Technologies Aerospace), Raven (U.S. firm AeroVironment), Skylark (Israel’s Elbit) and Tracker (Europe’s EADS).

A senior Army official said the service will need more than 200 UAVs in the next three to five years, with the requirement increasing as more urban areas are put under surveillance.

The micro UAVs are a priority procurement for the Army and could be inducted into service by mid-2008. The Army has specified no numbers in the bid, but service sources said the order could increase depending on the UAV’s performance as funds are available.

The global bids, sent early this month, stipulate that the micro UAV selected should be able to:

Ã¥ Perform reconnaissance and surveillance over mountains, day and night, and immediately transmit data to operators by voice and video.

Ã¥ Identify and detect targets.
Ã¥ Do surveillance of rural and urban areas where insurgents operate.
Ã¥ Assess post-strike damages.

The micro UAV also must weigh no more than 40 kilograms; be easy to assemble; have a low-noise engine, fixed or rotary wings and a low heat signature; and be able to avoid enemy detection and engagement.

The system’s ground control station should be a portable laptop that can display video and flight data on a digital map background and control the UAV in flight. Also, the UAV should be capable of performing a preprogrammed flight when navigation way points are fed into the computer.

A crew of two should be able to set up and operate the UAV and perform the launch mission in 15 minutes. It should resist electronic countermeasures.

The Army also wants a UAV that can operate in temperatures between minus-10 degrees and 50 degrees Celsius, fly at speeds up to 50 kilometers per hour at a range of at least 10 kilometers, and endure 90 minutes of flight.

[JaiS]

Taranis - From UK MoD website

Link to CGI Video of Taranis

Taranis thunders forward

20 Nov 07

A project which will enhance the capability of the future fast-jet fleet has moved a step closer to becoming reality as the first metal for the airframe of the Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle was cut in a ceremony at BAE Systems in Lancashire.

Project Taranis, named after the Celtic god of thunder, will build an unmanned fast jet demonstrator the size of a Hawk trainer - making it one of the world's largest UAVs - that will be stealthy, fast and be able to test deploy a range of munitions over a number of targets and be able to defend itself against manned and other unmanned enemy aircraft.

A £124m contract for Taranis was announced by the MOD and BAE Systems in December 2006. The project is an important part of the Defence Industrial Strategy, and Taranis will give the RAF a demonstrator that will form the basis of its plans to build the first pilotless front line fighter-bomber. The project will also play a significant first step in sustaining key capabilities in the UK industrial supplier base, supporting the future fast-jet fleet, in particular Typhoon and the Joint Strike Fighter.

The SUAVE team will be looking at a variety of options, including manned and unmanned aircraft, to meet the DPOC capability. Working under a Team Charter, the industry team of BAE Systems, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce, Smiths Aerospace and the MOD bring together some of the finest skills in the world to implement this complex project which is one of the first of its kind.

Ground-testing of Taranis is scheduled to begin in early 2009, with the first flight trials due to take place in 2010.

[Vick]

There's an Il-76 in the background.



A fully armed MQ-9 Reaper taxis down an Afghanistan runway Nov. 4. The Reaper has flown 49 combat sorties since it first began operating in Afghanistan Sept. 25. It completed its first combat strike Oct. 27, when it fired a Hellfire missile over Deh Rawod, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)

[JaiS]

Boeing, USAF plan to refuel UAVs in flight

[Ajay K]

Admins, any snaps of the UAV in service with Indian navy? Either in flight or on ground in Navy colors.

[Arun_S]

Boeing Tests Two-Pound Imaging Radar Aboard ScanEagle Unmanned Aircraft

by Staff Writers
St. Louis MO (SPX) Mar 25, 2008
Boeing, in partnership with ImSAR and Insitu, has successfully flight-tested NanoSAR, the world's smallest Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), aboard the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft (UA). During the 1.5-hour flight on Jan. 7 at the Boardman, Ore. test range, ScanEagle, with ImSAR's NanoSAR payload installed, completed several passes over the target area at various altitudes and ranges.

The targets included vehicles, structures and corner reflectors. Data collection onboard the ScanEagle worked as planned, and SAR imagery was later created on the ground. The next step in flight testing will be to create imagery aboard the UA in real time.

The NanoSAR is a 2-pound system approximately the size of a shoebox. The weight of standard SARs ranges from 50 to 200 pounds.

"In the past, the advantages of SARs' all-weather imaging capabilities have been the exclusive domain of only larger unmanned aircraft. Now, even the 40-pound ScanEagle can carry both an electro-optical or infrared camera and a SAR payload at the same time," said Carol Wilke, ScanEagle chief engineer for Boeing. "SAR is now at the lower end of payload weight budgets instead of at the top.

"The NanoSAR technology's ability to see in hazy, cloudy, rainy or foggy conditions is ideally suited for the maritime environment," Wilke added. "Combined with ScanEagle's long-endurance capability, NanoSAR offers a cost-effective solution for customers' surveillance requirements."

Logan Harris, chief technology officer for ImSAR, said, "SAR is the best tool to get certain jobs done, such as finding small vessels on the ocean. But because of the size, weight, power and cost of SAR systems, it just hasn't been possible to get this capability to the warfighter on a broader scale. NanoSAR has changed that. The NanoSAR is built on Printed Circuit Board technology that is rugged and can be rapidly and cost-effectively manufactured."

Since 2004, the ScanEagle system has proven on a daily basis that it is the best-value solution to support warfighters in the field around the world. It has logged more than 70,000 combat flight hours with the U.S Marines Expeditionary Force, the U.S. Navy and the Australia Defense Force in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Navy has logged more than 900 shipboard recoveries using ScanEagle.

ScanEagle, a joint effort of Boeing Advanced Systems' Advanced Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems and Insitu, was developed as a low-cost, long-endurance autonomous unmanned aircraft to provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as flexible, rapid deployment for a variety of government and civilian applications.

A ScanEagle UA carries inertially stabilized electro-optical and infrared cameras. The gimbaled cameras allow the operator to easily track both stationary and moving targets. Capable of flying above 16,000 feet and loitering over the battlefield for more than 24 hours, the platform provides persistent low-altitude reconnaissance.

ScanEagle is launched autonomously via a pneumatic SuperWedge catapult launcher and flies pre-programmed or operator-initiated missions. An Insitu-patented SkyHook system is used for retrieval -- the aircraft catches a rope suspended from a 50-foot-high tower. The patented system makes the ScanEagle system runway-independent, with a small footprint similar to that needed for vertical takeoff and landing vehicles.

[Raj Malhotra]

After successfully initiating a helo based UAV, I think Navy should implement the same concept in conventional take off HALE UAVs by using Saras as the platform.

[KiranM]

The whole of last week while at work I have seen the buzz of a chopper looking like Chetak. What is interesting is that it is in blue n white camo. Think, nah I am sure it is that helo UAV being tested in full swing. Interesting times ahead for Indian mil aerospace. Glad I work at aplace where I get to see a ring side view.

[Neshant]

not exactly an 'unmanned' vehicle but rather just the opposite.

a swiss guy created rocket powered wings by himself and flew around the alps. very impressive.

http://tinyurl.com/49wrgg

[sauravjha]

yeah useful for special forces ops.

[Neshant]

In the Kargil conflict, UAVs and UCAVs would been more practical than flying Mig-27s. It would have been an excelllent proving ground for it.

I'm seeing more and more UAV programs popping up in the west. Its obvious where air recon and air combat is going in the west. Hopefully India is keeping up.

[PaulJI]

Boeing Tests Two-Pound Imaging Radar Aboard ScanEagle Unmanned Aircraft

by Staff Writers
St. Louis MO (SPX) Mar 25, 2008
Boeing, in partnership with ImSAR and Insitu, has successfully flight-tested NanoSAR, the world's smallest Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), aboard the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft (UA). During the 1.5-hour flight on Jan. 7 at the Boardman, Ore. test range, ScanEagle, with ImSAR's NanoSAR payload installed, completed several passes over the target area at various altitudes and ranges.....

The NanoSAR is a 2-pound system approximately the size of a shoebox. The weight of standard SARs ranges from 50 to 200 pounds....

The smallest SAR I know of apart from this is the 10 kg Selex PicoSAR, an AESA SAR for UAVs, small helicopters, etc. More capable than this little thing, of course, but you can't put it in a 20kg UAV.

Since this report is from the USA, I expect that as usual, it ignores anything non-US, which is why it says "The weight of standard SARs ranges from 50 to 200 pounds".

[Neshant]

how does sar compare to lidar?

[Nayak]

DRDO's plan for an eye in the sky

Ajai Shukla in New Delhi

June 04, 2008

This is the third of a four-part series on the DRDO, which has instituted fundamental changes in the way it will approach equipment development.

Part I: New DRDO: An engagement with the military

Part II: New DRDO: Technology first, weapons later

The so-called "war on terror" since 2001 has debunked much of the conventional wisdom about what military equipment a country needs to protect its citizens.

But one piece of equipment that has repeatedly proved its relevance is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, a remotely piloted aircraft that circles several thousand feet over a target area, continuously relaying high-definition pictures to a monitor, far away.

The UAV has shown, in counter-insurgency and in anti-terrorist operations as much as in war, the critical importance of an 'eye in the sky'.

Unsurprisingly then, India's Defence R&D Organisation -- despite having radically curbed its traditional eagerness to develop even non-essential systems -- is going ahead with developing UAVs.

The DRDO has sent out expressions of interest to several private sector companies, including the Tata Group, L&T and Godrej [Get Quote] & Boyce, for manufacturing Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAVs, which will be developed by the DRDO. These MALE UAVs will fly at tens of thousands of feet, watching targets for more than 24 hours continuously.

There are several firsts in the MALE UAV programme. It will be the first aeronautical programme in which the DRDO will partner a private company; since independence, public sector giant, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, has monopolised this sector.

This will also be the first time a production agency (the private company that wins the contract to manufacture the UAVs) will work with the DRDO right through the development process, so that the production run can begin without any hitches.

Significant as those landmarks are, the most interesting part of the MALE UAV programme is the decision-making process, which the DRDO has adopted, in consultation with the military. This was revealed to Business Standard in a series of interviews with top DRDO scientists.

In deciding on India's fleet of unmanned aircraft, the DRDO and the military first zeroed in on UAVs that no country would sell. They agreed to develop micro-UAVs, which a soldier can carry on his back and quickly launch; and also complex Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, which carry full weapon-loads to strike aerial and ground targets.

A greater dilemma was over mid-sized UAVs; countries like Israel are eager to sell India MALE UAVs. But eventually, says DRDO chief controller of aeronautics and materials sciences, Dipankar Banerjee, it was decided to develop, rather than buy, MALE UAVs for two main reasons.

Firstly, the large number of UAVs the military requires creates a powerful commercial logic for a private company to manufacture them. And secondly, the DRDO feared that import of MALE UAVs might be blocked.

Banerjee explains, "We have to see what is possible under the Missile Technology Control Regime, which bans the transfer of technology and products with more than 300 kilometres range and 500 kilograms payload. And so, there may be MTCR controls that prevent us from acquiring MALE UAVs. We also recognise that the technology that we develop for the MALE UAV will go into the UCAV."

Notwithstanding the fears of technology sanctions, the DRDO knows that India's growing leverage as a major arms buyer is making sensitive technologies easier to access.

Technology planners in the DRDO say they are increasingly relying on components assembled from COTS (commercially available off-the-shelf) equipment; the DRDO will develop only strategically vital components and carry out the technologically challenging task of "systems integration", i.e. assembling a multitude of components into a functioning military system.

Before the end of June, request for proposals will be floated for the MALE UAVs. This project will be an important test for the DRDO's new thinking, it will, equally be a test for the concept of bringing a private sector company into a major project as the DRDO's industry partner.

[Raj Malhotra]

I think medium range aircraft are more for replacement of Il-38 in future rather than islanders.

I was thinking that NAL-DRDO should adapt modify Saras as long range UCAV

[sanjaychoudhry]

HAL supplies for Israel UAVs

India is supplying "composite material" (light plastics) manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles in a deal costing $100 million, well-placed ministry of defence (MoD) official sources confirmed on Thursday.

"The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. is one of the leading global manufacturers of composite material. This is manufactured by HAL from carbon fibres imported from Japan and France. HAL is supplying the composite material for the Israeli UAVs," MoD official sources said on Thursday.

This is one field where India is providing its expertise to Israel and illustrates the close Indo-Israeli defence ties.

http://howrah.org/india_news/16348.html

[soutikghosh]

Proper good quality photo of Indian PHALCON

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Ilyushin ... 1360837/L/

[ranganathan]

Wowser!! Nice photo. Damn can't wait for the first three in IAF's hand. Has the GOI signed for the next three?

[Philip]

Newsweek feature on the UAV revolution in warfare.

Military: The UAV Revolution
Up in the Sky, An Unblinking Eye
The hundreds of drones cruising over Iraq and Afghanistan have changed war forever.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/30166

"The whole art of war consists of getting at what is on the other side of the hill," said the Duke of Wellington, conqueror of Napoleon at Waterloo. In k feature on the UAV revolution.

[sanjaychoudhry]

Indian Army to try out DRDO's spy plane

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jun/06army.htm

[Rahul M]

http://newsx.com/story/13088

Light fuel cells will power unmanned choppers

Sat-Jun 07, 2008

London / Indo-Asian News Service
Light fuel cells are likely to power tiny, unmanned choppers that will look for people trapped in debris or examine contaminated terrain.

Since large numbers of fuel cells are required to deliver enough power, manufacturers tend to stack them, making the chopper heavy.

But this problem has been overcome by researchers from Technical University of Berlin's Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM.

They have developed a fuel cell that weighs only 30 grams with an output of 12 watts, or the equivalent of a high density of 400 watts per kg, achieved in much larger systems.

The fuel cell is light enough to power a 20-cm helicopter. It is being developed as an EU project, and will be used in future for missions such as locating victims trapped in fallen buildings, monitoring traffic or investigating places contaminated by chemical accidents.

How did researchers manage to reduce the weight of the fuel cells so dramatically? "We use very thin, planar fuel cells," explains IZM team leader Robert Hahn. "We have replaced the metal plates by lightweight plastic spacers."

The researchers have no need for an additional pump to provide an adequate air supply. The wind generated by the helicopter's rotor blades goes directly into the air vents.

[Ajay K]

soutikghosh
BRFite -Trainee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Proper good quality photo of Indian PHALCON

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Ilyushin ... 1360837/L/

What are those bulges under the fuselage of the Phalcon?

[ramana]

What is DRDO's Rustom? There is a ref to the item in the Techfocus magazine.

[A Sharma]

ramana
Its a medium altitude long endurance UAV

[Raj Malhotra]

Drdo is keeping atleast 3 UAV projects close to the chest being:-


Conventional take off Nishant
Rustom with all up weight of 600kg
Rustom with all up weight of 750kg

These projects exist as I talked to the person in charge at the Def Expo.