Is this just meant to be a cheap drone for persistent surveillance in low intensity conflict/peaceful areas?
Yes. The USP of this type of drone is that they can fly for 3+ months at stratospheric altitudes providing persistent terrain mapping & hyperspectral data. This data could be fed into cruise missiles & smart bombs that have digital terrain matching capabilities. Another advantage of such a drone is that to shoot them down the adversary would need to spend AD missiles that will be many times the cost of the drone.
Some recent articles on the CSIR-NAL HAPS drone:
CSIR NAL flies test-drone that can double up as ‘pseudo satellite’
Meet HAPS: India’s very own UAV that can fly 20 km high and float for months
Currently 3 organizations are building these systems:
1. HAL-NewSpace are developing the CATS-Infinity.
2. CSIR-NAL is developing the HAPS shown.
3. L&T is also developing a HAPS. No names mentioned yet.
All 3 developers are doing sub-scape flight testing. So far HAL-NewSpace & CSIR-NAL are ahead.
It's a neat idea. I can see the sophistication of the on board avionics and sensors getting better over time as things get lighter/smaller and solar panels get more efficient.
since this pseudo-satellite thing seems to be gaining traction around the globe, I wonder if we'll start seeing pseudo-satellites with the explicit purpose of hunting down others. Would be amusing. Cost efficiency and all that.
A high-power ground-based laser paired with an array of satellite-based, airbourne & surface-based sensors would be a good option. We seem to be moving in that direction. DRDO's Laser based DEWs under the "Tactical High Energy Laser Systems" have started to enter service.
I used to follow that project very closely until a few years back. Some of my relevant tweets on that subject:
DRDO's initial forays into laser-based DEWs:
Phase-1 laser deployments:
Some info on the Phase-2:
The Navy is pushing to be the 1st service to induct the Phase-2 laser systems on-board their newer destroyers.
Havildar Varinder Singh from the Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army has developed a 'Multipurpose Octocopter' which can not only undertake surveillance operations but can also be used for other tasks like dropping grenades, aerial engagement of targets by firing weapons like AK-47 and logistics operations. For his achievements, Havildar Varindar Singh has been awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal by the President of India this year.
DRDO's High Endurance Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (HEAUV) successfully conducted it maiden surface run:
Video:
Its primary mission would be ASW, MCM & underwater ISR. Going by the size, this thing should have endurance to go underwater for weeks.
Video:
Its primary mission would be ASW, MCM & underwater ISR. Going by the size, this thing should have endurance to go underwater for weeks.
Turns out I had some old tender documents of the HEAUV. Propulsion unit is a single 8 kW PSMC motor mated with a 150 V, 320 kwh Li-ion battery. 7 units of the motor, 3 units of the battery & a number of other related equipment were acquired. Theoretically this battery can run the motor at peak torque setting continuously for 40 hrs. Of course, in actual use the AUV won't be doing peak speed constantly for 40 hrs.
Also, are those black panels side mounted sonars?
The smaller black panels at the front & on the sides are probably underwater obstacle avoidance sonars.
Maybe UAV related ( since its ADE that is making this )
with serpentine intake though
with serpentine intake though
Our favourite lab, ADE is putting huge shift in to make aatmanirbharta work in uav sector. EOI docs attached.