The Indian Navy and Indian Air Force have shown interests in the indigenously designed and developed Tapas (Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance) Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone. The army and air force have held discussions and communicated with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) regarding the capabilities of the drone and the roles it can perform in the services defence officials told an Indian media agency.
The Tapas Drone capabilities were discussed in detail during a DRDO interaction with the forces. The Indian Air Force has also written to the DRDO in this regard, they said. The DRDO is also likely to hand over two Tapas drones in its inventory to the Indian Navy for trials and testing in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory, the officials said.
If the trials are successful and meet the roles for which one force wants them, there is a possibility for the Indian Navy placing orders for around 10-12 drones. The IAF would also like at the performance of drones along with other issues before it decides further on this issue, they said.
The DRDO recently rubbished reports about shelving of the Tapas drone project and announced that it is continuing with it to further develop the Tapas drones.
The Tapas drones being developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment Laboratory have not been fully meet the Joint Service Qualitative Requirements of flying at over 30,000 feet for over 24 hours at a stretch and have been excluded from the category of mission mode projects. The Tapas drones have been tested by the defence forces and during the trials, they managed to reach 28,000 feet altitude and could fly for over 18 hours, they said.
Nevertheless, the drone can carry a variety of payloads up to a maximum of 350 kgs. It can be controlled remotely and can fulfil the following requirements namely, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities of the tri-services of India. It can be operated in day as well as pitch dark night.
DRDO officials said the laboratory concerned would be working on improving designs and the increased the power in the drone to make it more suitable for service requirements of altitude an endurance which it was not able to meet in the recent evaluations. The premier defence research agency led by Dr Samir V. Kamath has been working on major drone projects including unmanned combat aerial vehicles like Ghatak and Archer
