Will Israeli Companies Benefit from the Indian Demand?

Will Israeli Companies Benefit from the Indian Demand?

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The Indian army is planning to purchase 200 mini drones for the purposes of surveillance and detection of enemy movement in Jammu and Kashmir. This raises the question whether Israeli companies would benefit from the Indian demand.

India’s decision to revive the four-year-old plan followed a succession of attacks on army camps in Jammu and Kashmir, following a recent attack on the Pathankot airbase camp, according to Sputnik, cited by geopolmonitor.com.

Several drone variants will be purchased. The loiter time will be the same, the plain variant would have a maximum ceiling of 1,000 meters above take off altitude and the hill variant will have a maximum elevation of four kilometers.

“The need for mini-UAVs for deployment along the Line of Control (de-facto border between India and Pakistan) has been felt for a long time because of persistent efforts by externally sponsored terrorists to infiltrate across the border,” said Brigadier Rumel Dahiya (retired), defense expert and former deputy director general of Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses. The army has asked drone manufacturers to deliver the security systems by December 23.

“The mini UAVs will be deployed close to the border and will be operated by the troops on ground who will directly receive the information and act upon it thus shortening the Observe, Orient, Decide and Act (OODA) loop and filling up a void in the surveillance grid,” Dahiya added.

An investigation on the attack on the Pathankot airbase camp attack by a high-level commission revealed that the lack of alertness allowed the entry of armed terrorist into high-value military facilities.

The commission suggested measures that include technology-based security systems in and around military establishments.

This year alone, the Indian army has lost 89 men to militant attacks in Kashmir.