Drones are a big part of India’s defense future.

They loiter, they spy, they spot, some rain hell on their targets. While expensive, they do not have a human cost attached. The United States is the top dog in this game but India is slowly getting the drone act together. Drone wars are now a part of India’s military capability - and their role will only grow. While actual numbers are classified, India may have an upward of 200 drones already. The Indian armed forces will induct “suicide drones” that can be turned into missiles this year. India has also shown interest in hand held drones for its army. The Home ministry also operates drones for counter insurgency. Killer drones are also on the Menu. India is testing drones that can carry smart bombs. Here is why Drones are important for India (a Picture of heron1drone vs. a Mig 21) Drones in India’s inventory can keep aloft for up to 40 hours at a high of over 30,000 feet, silent and small thus tougher to detect for the enemy. For many tasks such as surveillance it is just silly to risk a pilot’s life Almost one third of India’s fighter aircrafts are old and cannot do optimum sorties, the drone fleet is much younger. Drones are evolving, for new roles every day. India is working ondrones that can fire precision weapons up to a range of 100 kilometers. Drones will help Indian armed forces to overcome the pilot shortage India has critical pilot shortage drones do not need pilots. Training a pilot is costly. It costs over $2 million to train just one pilot. (Pic of trainer aircraft the Pilatus) India’s geography and topography makes the Drones an obvious choice India has a coastline of 7517 kilometers when you add 200 sq kilometers of the exclusive economic zone this becomes a vast spatial area to protect. 70 per cent of the high Himalayas fall in India much of it facing Pakistan and China. The average high of the Indian Himalayas is 6000 meters. The great Thar Desert on the Indian side covers some 80,000 square kilometers to look over. This geography makes human presence over most of it impossible The drones come marching in – here is what the Indian fleet looks like The searcher series (pic of searcher II) India started its drone deployment in 1996 with the Searcher I from Israel India operates newer versions of this drone, the searcher MK II This bird spies at 200 kilometers an hour and can loiter for up to 16 hours above 20,000 feet That is Ideal over the LOC and the deserts and the high seas India has an estimated 75 of these birds The problem is they need to be mounted on the controversial Tetra trucks which are hard to take up the mountain terrain So actual deployment is less then optimum Heron 1 This is the mainstay of the Indian armed forces in Drone warfare This drone can go up to 3200 feet at 200 kilometers an hour and over 300 kilometers from launch It has multi sensor capability can track targets as well as provide visual engagement It is valuable in tracking cross border intrusions as well as providing real time theater awareness for troops on the ground Here comes a drone that is also a missile This year the Indian armed forces are inducting the Israeli made HAROP It has cost India upward of $1 billion to acquire HAROP is special because it has a war head and can fly on a one way ticket It can become a missile on command It can loiter for hours a 1000 kilometer away after launch It was showcased at the aero Asian at Bangalore in 2009 It has cutting edge electro optical sensors This means it can “see” any pre launch activity from behind enemy lines The Rustom It is an Indian made drone named after the Late Rustom Damania who conceptualized it It can travel at 225 kilometers an hour and can climb to up to 30,000 feet India is also planning Rustom II its first test flight is in 2014 DRDO plans to make the Rustom II into an armed drone It is however at least five years away from entering service in meaningful numbers. The Aura This is the most ambitious Indian stealth Drone project It looks like a flying wing and has stealth features which make the dronedifficult to detect on enemy radars It is designed to defend itself as well as attack targets with smart munitions and missiles India may use its home made kaveri engine for this drone That engine has been twenty years in development but is not good enough for a fighter jet While an ambitious idea this drone is at least a decade away from induction in the forces.