India tests 'pilot-less planes' for anti-Naxal ops

[desiman]

India tests 'pilot-less planes' for anti-Naxal ops

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, used by United States' forces to track down Taliban militants, successfully flew over the dense forests of Bastar in Chhattisgarh in the first trial run for anti-Naxal operations.

The trials, which assumed urgency after the Dantewada massacre in which 76 security personnel were killed by the Maoists, were aimed at generating real-time intelligence information to help ground forces in any offensive.

The first trial involved an American UAV. The decision to have UAV flights was taken by the Union home ministry after the April six attack and their field trials were ordered immediately.

An UAV of US' Honeywell , whose pilot-less planes are reportedly used successfully by allied forces in the hunt for targets in war-hit Afghanistan and Iraq, flew during the night trial.

The compact UAV, weighing nearly 10 kilograms, was put through the rugged terrains of the hills overlooking Kanker after its take off from Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College in Kanker.

The trials which commenced on Wednesday and continued till the wee hours of Thursday morning was witnessed by officials not only from Chattisgarh and the Union Home Ministry, but also by police officials of Madhya Pradesh , Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

Cruising over the hills, the UAV was checked for providing thermal images of any movement on the ground, detection of improvised explosive devices and ammunition dumps.

The UAV known as T-MAV (Micro Air Vehicle) is a compact machine manufactured by 'Honeywell'. The company, during its briefing for officials, claimed that its deployment and stowing operations can be accomplished in less than five minutes.

This UAV was slected first for field trials as it has been claimed that it has been useful to the US forces in tracking down Taliban militants in high mountain passes and dense Waziristan area of Pakistan.

The UAVs are urgently required as the forces engaged in anti-naxal operations need real-time information to achieve greater success. It can go up to a height of 10,000 feet, fly at a speed of 70 kms per hour and can provide 240 minutes of sensor imagery to the ground station.

The night-long trials also saw its use in detecting people in pitch dark and dense forests. In certain cases of mine detection, the UAV could not pick up signals properly and only showed some disturbance on the surface.

A UAV of Defence Research and Development Organisation, which has claimed to have a similar product, may be tried soon. However, its UAV trials two years back had not got the desired results.

With intelligence gathering still a problem in Naxal areas, the UAVs are expected to help in gathering advanced reconnaissance and situational awareness functions would be critical in protection of security personnel.

India tests 'pilot-less planes' for anti-Naxal ops: Rediff.com India News

 

[desiboy]

Terrorists brainwashed with Maoism should be eliminated at first hand opportunity... They are the gravest danger for India. I belong to one of the states that has severaly affected by these maoists... Use of such UAVs is really a good step by Indian GOVT in their attempt to eliminate these antisocials...

 

[Avatar]

There was a time when Communism was needed but now there's no way. We are much happier with a democracy even if it takes us a thousand years to reach where China is.

 

[chachachoudhary]

No fancy technology will solve the maoists menace. The ruling elite seem to be half hearted in their will to fight these rodents. If we really want to fight the naxal menace and take the maoists head on, we must first deal with the maoists who are occupying front seats in india's parliament and who will scuttle every move of security agencies that will cost them their precious votes and power.

 

[gogbot]

Terrorists brainwashed with Maoism should be eliminated at first hand opportunity... They are the gravest danger for India. I belong to one of the states that has severaly affected by these maoists... Use of such UAVs is really a good step by Indian GOVT in their attempt to eliminate these antisocials...

Lets not toss around the word terrorist .

Despite the Maoists unforgivable actions.

They don't willingly target and kill civilians. They care India but not for our India.

And that is the only reason I am willing to accept a peaceful end to Maosim in India , which can even involve reintegration.

 

[chachachoudhary]

Lets not toss around the word terrorist .

Despite the Maoists unforgivable actions.

They don't willingly target and kill civilians. They care India but not for our India.

And that is the only reason I am willing to accept a peaceful end to Maosim in India , which can even involve reintegration.

My friend, please read the maoists ideology and then make an opinion.

MAOISTS IDEOLOGY
According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the two factions adhered to differing strands of communism prior to their 2004 merger although "both organizations shared their belief in the 'annihilation of class enemies' and in extreme violence as a means to secure organizational goals." The People's War Group (PWG) maintained a Marxist-Leninist stance while the MCC took a Maoist stance. After the merger, the PWG secretary of Andhra Pradesh announced the newly formed CPI-Maoist would follow Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as its "ideological basis guiding its thinking in all spheres of its activities." Included in this ideology is a commitment to "protracted armed struggle" to undermine and to seize power from the state.[2]

The ideology of the merged group is contained in a "Party Programme." In the document, the Maoists denounce globalization as a war on the people by market fundamentalists and the caste system as a form of social oppression.[9]

It is claimed by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) that it is conducting 'people's war', a strategical line developed by Mao Zedong during the phase of guerrilla warfare of the Communist Party of China. The eventual objective is to install a "people’s government" via a "New Democracy Revolution".

The party also views Islamist militancy as a struggle towards national liberation against imperialism, rather than as a clash of civilizations, and condones it as having parallel goals to the group's own. In the words of deputy leader Koteshwar Rao, or Kishanji: "The Islamic upsurge should not be opposed as it is basically anti-US and anti-Imperialist in nature. We, therefore, want it to grow."

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The CPI (Maoist) maintains dialogue with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) who control most of Nepal in the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organizations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA) according to several intelligence sources and think tanks.[2] These links are however denied by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)[29]

While under detention in June 2009, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative indicated that the LeT and the CPI (Maoist) had attempted to coordinate activities in Jharkhand state.[30]

Latest reports indicates that the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines Southeast Asia’s longest-lived communist insurgent group—has been reported to have engaged in conducting training activities for guerrilla warfare for Indian Maoists.

 

[Mirza Jatt]

Kill those B*sta*ds...I just cant stand them after what they did in dantewada...they are the main hurdles for India to develop.

 

[gogbot]

Kill those B*sta*ds...I just cant stand them after what they did in dantewada...they are the main hurdles for India to develop.

You mean beyond our own political establishments in-effectiveness .

the Navals are bad no doubt about that.

But I refuse to believe that out of the 50,000 maoists consisting of also women and children, in the country they all would take up are against India , they are fighting for a misguided cause.
Most of them come from the most underdeveloped parts of the country. If they had been born anywhere else they would share our own dis-like for the maoists.

While our security establishment should take all measures to disarm them , and destroy their capability to cause violence , we should not start hunting down every one who happens to be a maoist.

 

[graphican]

Wao... Moists are becoming a force on their own. The best thing about that movement is that it is not for the freedom but to eliminate social deprivation and equal economic rights as rest of the India. Their objectives are great but may be the way they are handling these matters is worrisome. I wish all the deprived sections of the world would attain equality and similar opportunities as rest of the world.

It is interesting note that Maoists and Islamic Jihadi movement are finding common grounds.

 

[notsuperstitious]

Wao... Moists are becoming a force on their own. The best thing about that movement is that it is not for the freedom but to eliminate social deprivation and equal economic rights as rest of the India. Their objectives are great but may be the way they are handling these matters is worrisome. I wish all the deprived sections of the world would attain equality and similar opportunities as rest of the world.

It is interesting note that Maoists and Islamic Jihadi movement are finding common grounds.

Thier only common ground is terrorism.

 

[Gene]

i think india should buy some predators to deal with naxals !!!!!

 

[indushek]

Many people think that maoists are great ideologues fighting for a good cause. I am also from a state where maoists held sway for a long time but were taken care of successfully.

Bear with me if my explanation is long but the truth is:

the maoists today fighting can be called second or third generation.

The first gen were highly educated and took up arms for a cause i.e equality of rights etc and protecting the down trodden so on.

However their fight did not yield much results. Many of these first gen came back to mainstream after a 15 to 20 yr period or so (many came back after old age or physical problems too).

The second gen though educated also had illiterates (the point is due to the high moral ground of the first gen they not only gained more supporters but also public's support)

THis too went on for 10 yrs or so, that is where the degenration started what with differences between party cadres and methods ,
(this has been attested by naxals who joined back into public mainstream about the rampant groupism and double standards, deviation from ideologies)
while the first and second gen for a long time got their resources from public willingly donating (also mao's grabbed from rich landlords which the public supported), over the time the cadres started grabbing from even common people and this lead to their downfall.

Before their downfall in my state there were as many as 5 to 6 different groups. The point is that today these people are not as high in morals as they were once. They are not averse to kill common men if they feel it (actually it is these they have vowed to protect and liberate).

The misguided cause is no more misguided, it is a pure war on this nation and should be dealt with effectively.

 

[applesauce]

as india develops and its people get richer, the terrorist will lose ground, look at the developed/rich world they do not have terrorism on the scale of the poor world(home grown) however if you choose military attacks instead then prehaps the rebel will be beaten but only for a time, in the long term you must be able to provide for the people to win against the rebels. so if india continuous its current way(economically) and the disparity is not too great int he future then the rebels will eventually lose which is why they want to attack so often to keep the nation back to keep their power base.