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The Indian Army was the first service to acquire Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in form of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Searcher Mark I, followed by the Searcher Mark II and finally the Heron Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. The Searcher Mark II is being successfully used in the mountains as also in the plains and semideserts. The Indian Air Force quickly built up a similar inventory, while the Indian Navy (IN) acquired the Searcher Mark II and Heron for long range maritime surveillance missions, operating them from Kochi and Porbandar.
Backbone of the fleet is the fourth generation GPS-enabled Heron / Machatz 1 MALE UAV, designed and manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) at its Malat division, in partnership with the Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler& Associates (MDA). Heron entered operational service with the Indian Air Force in high-altitude land surveillance near mountainous borders, and in IN service for maritime patrol missions. Heron has proved to be capable of fully automated take-off and landing, even under adverse weather conditions. Flying at a height of 30,000ft, the UAV provides operators with real-time information on enemy battlefields/ activities by performing Information, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) activities over wide areas in support of national agencies, theatre commanders and lower echelons using multiple sensors and Satellite Communications (SATCOM) for extendedrange capture and transfer of critical data. The UAV is also capable of providing reliable Battle Damage Assessment (BDA). IAI is set to supply around 60 Heron MALE UAV to the various branches of the Indian Armed Forces, now also including the Heron TP/Eitan Unmanned CombatAerial Vehicle (UCAV).
Powered by a single 85.79kW Rotax 914 turbo aircraft engine manufactured by Austria>s BRP-Rotax,the Heron can climb at the rate of 150m a minute and fly at a maximum speed of 207km/h to a range of 350km (Satellite Communications enables this range to be extended to beyond 1,000km) and has demonstrated 52 hours of continuous flight with modular space up to 250kg for customer-furnished equipment that may include Electro-Optical (EO) and Infra-Red (IR) sensors (supplied by Northrop Grumman and Tamam Division of IAI), thermal surveillance equipment and laser designator. While the EO sensor converts light rays into electronic signals for capturing images, real-time data and videos, the laser designator...