Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched a project to develop indigenous long-range Kamikaze drones with Indian industry, a Defence Ministry official said on June 16.
The IAF has issued a limited tender to select Indian companies for One-Way Attack Unmanned Aerial Systems (OWA-UAS), the official said in a statement.
The Kamikaze drone project will be handled by the 5 Base Repair Depot (BRD) at Sulur near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, that has been designated as the nodal agency for the key task.
Kamikaze drones, also known as loitering munitions or suicide drones, are one-way, self-sacrificing unmanned aerial vehicles that fly to a target area, locate enemies and detonate on impact.
As part of the decisions taken by the Defence Ministry, the IAF will retain Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the drone platform that is proposed to be designed, developed and manufactured entirely in India with the help of home-grown companies and start-ups.
The project will enable faster upgrades, modifications and customisation as per operational needs, the statement said.
As per IAF’s specifications the long-range Kamikaze drones would operate up to 16,000 feet and function in day and night conditions.
Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said that India must work in a mission mode to emerge as a global hub of indigenous drone manufacturing in the next few years. He added that this was needed to ensure strategic autonomy, enhance defence preparedness and make the country ‘Aatmanirbhar’.
