Indian Army to get more than 100 ‘Strike Drones’

• Indian army, under the emergency procurement powers, has inked a pact of over 100 ‘Explosive-Laden Drones’.
• The drones will be manufactured by Bengaluru-based firm Alpha Design-led joint venture (JV) along with Israel’s Elbit Security Systems (ELSEC).
• The contract is estimated to be around Rs 100 crore.

Sky Striker drones

• As per Elbit Security Systems, Sky Striker is a cost-effective ‘loitering munition’ capable of carrying long-range penetration strikes.
• “Loitering munition” are type of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) built to engage beyond the line-of-sight ground targets with an explosive warhead.
• The drones will have a range of about 100km and they will be used as force multipliers in Balakot type of missions.
• The military drones have direct-fire aerial-precision capabilities to maneuverable troops and special forces.
• The UAV works as a ‘suicide drone’, which crashes into the target with the explosives.
• Further, the drone can locate, acquire and strike designated targets with a 5kg warhead installed inside the fuselage.
• Its electric propulsion provides a much-needed minimal acoustic signature, which allows covert operations at low altitude – making it a silent, invisible, and surprise attacker.
• Global Positioning System (GPS) will be loaded onto the strike drone before launch and upon launching.
• It will fly around the location, pick up the target, relay the information back to ground control equipment, and strike only after getting clearance.
• It is noteworthy that ground control can also change targets after the launch, and even call it back in case a mission has to be aborted.

Alpha design's Defence contracts with IAF

• Apart from the Indian Army’s contract, Alpha Design’s JV has independently got two more defence contracts from the Indian Air Force recently.
• The first contract includes 6 Very High-Frequency Radars.
• The Indian Air Force is operating long-distance surveillance radars — P18 radars — that have a range of up to 200km.
• The new radars will enhance the IAF’s surveillance strength.
• The second contract includes 60 Identification of Friend-or-Foe (IFF) systems that will be integrated with ground radars.
• Developed by the Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) under Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO), the technology has been transferred to three firms: Alpha, BEL and Data Patterns.