Sarjen29
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Converting a Fighter Jet into a Combat Drone :: Why India needs Counter Assault Combat Drones
Sunday, August 02, 2015
By : Dr Arjun Shenoy
Courtesy : DEFENCE NEWS NETWORK
Terrorist threats have grown larger and more technologically savvy over the past few decades. India however owes much of the terror attacks on its soil to cross border infiltration and the conspiring factors embedded in the Pakistan military.
Sunday, August 02, 2015
By : Dr Arjun Shenoy
Courtesy : DEFENCE NEWS NETWORK
Terrorist threats have grown larger and more technologically savvy over the past few decades. India however owes much of the terror attacks on its soil to cross border infiltration and the conspiring factors embedded in the Pakistan military.
- Terrorist threats have grown larger and more technologically savvy over the past few decades. India however owes much of the terror attacks on its soil to cross border infiltration and the conspiring factors embedded in the Pakistan military. Much of the evidence garnered from the interrogations and GPS equipment used by the terrorists have provided concrete evidences of the origin of the terror plans from specific training camps placed well across the border.
Amusingly, the failure of Pakistan to acknowledge the existence of such camps, let alone take the needful action has only made matters sour between the countries while allowing the perpetrators of the attacks to thrive. For a country that took jibes at warning India against any misadventures following the surgical strike by USA on Bin Laden's hideout in Peshawar, there appears to be no intent to neutralize the home-grown terror.
However the preferred mode of retaliation by sending Counter Assault Commando Units across the border for surgical strikes on selected targets has serious implications of threat of coming under enemy fire and the consequences in such a scenario would be disastrous. More loss of human life would likely escalate the scenario into a full blown war if not kept in check.
A simple yet effective mode of retaliation would be combat ready drones with precision attack capability flown by a fighter pilot in the safety of an undisclosed location to neutralize the confirmed targets chosen after intelligence and reconnaissance inputs. Having said the same, the interception of the attack drone by enemy fighter jets well before it strikes the targets are a real world probability. A more efficient combat drone would need agility, stealth and supersonic cruise speed and high altitude to penetrate areas deep in the enemy territory. Instead of spending vast resources in developing or importing such high performance drones, India could retrofit a few Mig 21 Bison standard which are set to be phased out by 2014- 2017 or the SEPECAT Jaguars with unmanned flying equipment and provide mid air refueling capabilities to extend the range prior to entry into enemy territory.
The process of converting a fighter jet aircraft into a combat drone is not only cost efficient but very effective. In the year 2013 Boeing was able to demonstrate barrel roles and split S maneuvers with a perfect center line landing using a retired Lockheed Martin F-16 retrofitted with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology. During the test flights, the planes were seen to easily cruise at 40,000 feet at speeds of Mach 1.47 while reaching upto 7 Gs of acceleration. Boeing however believes it could well negotiate upto 9 Gs. What this translates to drone warfare would be mind altering agility in the event of interception by enemy aircraft since the pilot does not limit the performance of the aircraft.
The notion of surgical strikes at terror camps using these combat drones will not only send a strong message across to a country like Pakistan harboring the criminals, but also the superior acrobatics and with no life being at stake, would make these UAV's a deadly force of the Indian Air Force to reckon with. The retrofit technology does exist and so do suitable fighter jets which are set to be phased out in few years. A perfect execution by India to acquire such Counter Assault Fighter Drones will be a benchmark to fight cross border terror.
