NAVAL DRONES

The Australian government recently approved the acquisition of a fleet of US Navy  Triton   surveillance drones  to patrol our oceans. Australia has mostly used Israeli drones to date, such as the  Heron s in Afghanistan. So as we dip our toes into the American UAV market, it’s worth taking note of a recent development that might be threatening US primacy in this area. While the  Predator  and  Reaper  laid the groundwork for the use of armed drones in warfare, a question remains about the survivability of the technology against modern air defences. Developing a stealthy long-range drone with a decent weapons payload that could go beyond missions in Yemen and Pakistan appeared to be the next order of business for the US, especially in the future Asia-Pacific theatre. Projects like the demonstrator  X-47B  unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) have shown promise in achieving those missions. But for now the US Navy has decided to go for a...

India's  growing unmanned aerial vehicle fleet is being put through its paces in defending against a future Mumbai-style complex terrorist attack.  During a 48-hour long exercise, Gemini-2 , UAVs from the Navy’s 342 Air Squadron cued patrol boats and coastal police to thwart mock terrorists attempting to infiltrate Southern India's shoreline from the sea.  The first iteration of Gemini was held in November 2012 and other multi-agency coastal security exercises ( 'Sagar Kavach' ) have been conducted frequently since the Lashkar-e-Taiba attacks on Mumbai in 2008. India's ground-based tactical Searcher MK II and longer-ranged Heron UAVs are a component of a more comprehensive maritime observation network consisting of manned aircraft, cooperating fishermen, and coastal surveillance radars and cameras installed in 90 light houses along India's 7,500 km coastline.  India's army and air force are ...

Earlier this week, reports  indicated that India will spend nearly a billion dollars with Israel Aircraft Industries to upgrade its fleet of Heron UAVs with satellite communications gear.   Interestingly, this story coincides with the launching of India's GSAT-10 heavy communications satellite.  The satellite is positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the central Indian Ocean.  Similar to the way the U.S. controls Predator UAVs in Afghanistan from Nevada, the 12 Ku-band transponders may very well be associated with over-the-horizon control of the Heron UAVs.  The upgrades will likely enable the the Indian Navy's three squadrons of Herons to reach their maximum operating range of 3,300 km as depicted in our previous blog post on the subject.  The ability to perform surveillance from the East Coast of Africa to the Strait of Malacca would provide a significant boost in intelligence support to India's blue water na...