Army to get 100+ 'sky strikers' for Balakot-type missions from Bengaluru
The Indian army, under emergency procurement powers has signed a contract for more than 100 explosive-laden drones — to be manufactured in Bengaluru — that are to be used as force multipliers in Balakot type of missions. It will have a range of about 100km.
The requirement for what the army calls "loitering munition" will be fulfilled by 'SkyStriker' drones to be made and supplied by Bengaluru-headquartered company Alpha Design-led joint venture (JV) involving Israeli firm Elbit Security Systems (ELSEC). The contract signed on Wednesday is worth around Rs 100 crore.
Aside from the army contract for its JV, Alpha Design has independently bagged two more defence contracts from the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the past week.
The first is for six Very High Frequency (VHF) radars. The IAF already has long-distance surveillance radars — P18 radars — that can capture targets beyond 200km procured in 1980 and 1990s. Given their age, the IAF was looking at whether it should upgrade the P18s or procure new ones at the same cost and decided to buy new ones.
Under the emergency procurement powers, the IAF issued EOIs and RFPs which got responses from four companies: defence PSU BEL and three private firms Alpha Design, Astra Microwave and Data Patterns. While all four firms met the technical requirements, Alpha emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) and bagged the Rs 200+ crore contract signed last week.
The second, also an IAF contract, is for around 60 Identification of Friend-or-Foe (IFF) systems that will be integrated with ground radars. This technology was developed by the Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) under DRDO and transferred to three firms: Alpha, BEL and Data Patterns.