Army wants missiles that hover before attack
Only A Few Armament Cos Make Such Systems
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: After Israeli UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) or spy drones which act like cruise missiles, the Indian armed forces are looking to induct loitering missiles that hover before selecting and hitting targets of greater priority.
Army has issued a global RFI (request for information) about medium-range loitering missile systems, seeking details about their day and night camera payloads, ground control stations, data links, launchers and the like. Only a few armament majors like Israeli Aerospace Industries and Raytheon make such missile systems.
The RFI was issued earlier this month. The loitering missile is basically a UAV which can transmit data after hovering over a target undetected for about 20-30 minutes and then hit a selected target, said an officer.
The RFI has sought details on the missiles cruising speed, maximum range at which it can engage a target, its loitering time, data links range and the like. The system should also have the capability to abort an attack after locking on to a target and then later hit another redesignated target.
Army wants the loitering missile to have a conventional warhead, apart from anti-tank and anti-material warheads with deep armourpenetrating capabilities.
The armed forces, of course, are still some years away from inducting combat UAVs like the American Predators, which let loose Hellfire missiles with devastating effect, which are being used in operations against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan. They are, however, inducting some loitering killer drones like the Israeli Harpy UAVs, which are designed to detect and attack enemy radars as anti-radiation missiles.
Such a UAV first tracks and verifies hostile radar emissions after being launched in any kind of weather. It then enters into an attack mode to dive almost vertically and finally, detonates its warhead just above the enemy radar to effectively kill it.
IAF has also ordered the advanced version of these UAVs, called Harop, which add electro-optical sensors to the radio-frequency seekers to ensure they can hit even enemy missile sites and other important military installations.