UAV, RPV, DRONE: CALL IT BY ANY NAME

UAV, RPV, DRONE: CALL IT BY ANY NAME

(First Published in Defence Monitor in Hindi -July 2014)

The Evolution of Drones

            An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, also referred to as a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), is an aircraft without a human pilot onboard. Its flight is controlled, either autonomously by onboard computers through preset programming, or by remote control of a pilot on the ground, who may be thousands of miles away, or in the near vicinity of the launch, in a vehicle. The typical launch and recovery method of an unmanned aircraft is by the function of an automatic system, or an external operator on the ground. Historically, UAVs were simple remotely piloted aircraft, but increasingly, autonomous control is today being employed.

            

               UAVs, usually deployed for military and special operation applications, also have a growing number of civil applications, such as policing and fire-fighting, and non-military security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. The unmanned vehicles are often preferred for missions that are too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for manned aircraft, a term used by the USAF.

           

               The idea of a pilotless aerial vehicle is not a new concept. The concept of drones dates back to the mid-1800s, when Austrians sent off unmanned, bomb-filled balloons as a way to attack Venice. The modernisation of today’s drone started in the early 1900s, and was originally used for target practice to train military personnel. It continued to be developed during World War I, when a pilotless aerial torpedo was developed that would drop and explode at a preset time or place.

            A number of improvements on remote-controlled model airplanes followed during and after World War I. It is surprising, but the film star and model airplane enthusiast, Reginald Denny, developed the first scale-RPV (Remote Piloted Vehicle) in 1935. In the technology rush during World War II, both the Allied countries and Germany developed many more; these were used not just to train anti-aircraft gunners, but for attack missions too. 

            The operational use of drones by the US military started in 1959 when the Air Force, concerned about the loss of trained pilots over hostile territory, commenced planning for unmanned flights. The plans intensified when, in 1960, the erstwhile USSR shot down Gary Powers in his U-2 aircraft, at about 70,000 ft altitude. This incident, followed by another similar one during the Cuban missile crisis, accelerated the secret Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) programme. USA has used UAVs extensively during peace and war since 1964 in Vietnam and elsewhere; the primary task of the UAVs being surveillance and intelligence gathering. With increased operational requirements, the intelligence gathering equipment was either totally, or partially replaced, with armament and they became to be known as Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs).

            These ‘pilotless’ platforms, as mentioned, are known by many names, such as drones, UAVs, RPVs, RPA, UCAV, to name a few. The role for these platforms, except for the UCAVs, was primarily reconnaissance, but all are supported by equally vital systems, both in the air and on ground, such as, launch and Recovery Stations, Ground Control Stations, Data Links, various types of payloads etc. A need was felt to give cognisance to these support systems and hence, a new comprehensive term, Unmanned Aerial/Aircraft Systems (UAS), was coined. The term reflects the need for not only co-dependence of the systems, but also for the future development of associated systems, rather than just focus on the platform. The inclusion of the term ‘aircraft’ in UAS emphasises that irrespective of the location of the pilot and the operating crew, the operations must comply with all regulations and procedures as are applicable to those aircraft that are manned with the pilot(s) and crew onboard. The term, UAS is also officially recognised by ICAO.

            The UAS has proved to be game-changer and a force multiplier in warfare and otherwise. As we approach the centenary of unmanned flight in 2018, no change to some of the basic combat and combat support roles is foreseen. However, with the exponential growth of computing power, the advances in nano-technology, the future of UAS is bright with many paired systems being added to the existing payloads, thus giving a wider role in the civilian domain too.

India’s Acquisitions and Development of the UAS

            The need for possessing UAS was felt in the aftermath of Kargil conflict in 1999 and the attack on the Parliament House in New Delhi. Initially, the Indian Armed Forces inducted over a 100 drones from Israel, for intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and surveillance of sensitive areas. UAS are now considered as an essential part of the segment of force multipliers. Today, these systems are being tasked in numerous roles – monitoring movements and communications in real time, data transmission and detection of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), are just to name a few.

             The Indian Army went in first for the acquisition of UAS, followed by the Air Force and then the Navy; today, all the three Services make extensive use of the systems. Initially the Army and the Air Force acquired the Searcher Mk I, followed by the Searcher Mk II; the Searcher could operate at a ceiling of 15,000 ft. This was followed by the Air Force purchasing the Heron, which could operate up to a ceiling of 30,000 ft; the Navy too acquired the Heron to meet its outstanding long-range offshore needs.

            India is also in the process of acquiring the Harop, which is more like a UCAV. This hunter-killer drone does not carry any munitions like the US UCAVs but is like a flying missile and explodes itself on either a pre-programmed target or one that it searches for itself. This missile-drone can loiter over a battlefield and can be used against high value targets, including for Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) missions.

            The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has shown tremendous potential to indigenously develop UAS in India. At the outset, DRDO was tasked to produce a catapult-launched drone, which was developed by its Aeronautical Developmental Establishment (ADE), Bangalore and improved thereafter, to meet user requirements. The DRDO has developed two UAS, the Lakshya and the Nishant, and is now working on a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone, called Rustom. It is a MALE drone, capable of flying at about 30,000 ft, for more than 24 hrs with a surveillance range of 250 kms, extendable to beyond 1000 kms and can also be used as a killer drone. Made to order as per the Army’s specifications, the Nishant can remain in the air for four and a half hours, flying at a speed of about 185 kmph. The Lakshya, on the other hand, is a pilotless target drone to tow low-flying targets for aerial tracking and live-fire training.

            DRDO is also working with Israeli manufacturers to develop two other different types of drones, the Pawan and the Gagan, apart from the Rustom. The Pawan is a short-range system, primarily for the Army. With a range of about 150 kms and an endurance of about five hours, it can operate both by day and night. The Gagan is an advanced version of the Nishant with a range of about 250 kms and an operating ceiling of about 20,000 ft.

            The HAL has also entered the fray of developing a drone as a joint venture; it is developing to modify the existing Chetak helicopter as a ship-borne UAS for the Indian Navy. The Navy has placed an order for eight such systems, but reportedly, the project has not gathered steam; it, therefore, is now looking to procure other systems from abroad. The Army is on the lookout for a large number of miniaturised UAVs (MAVs), which are easy to handle and launch and can evade easy detection; the main role for such systems would be for surveillance in mountainous terrain and congested urban areas. It also wants the MAVs to act as killer drones for small but high-value targets. Once procured, they are likely to be deployed on the Line of Control (LoC) to facilitate the detection of any terrorist intrusion from as far as 1000m, both by day and night.

            Apart from the Indian Armed Forces, the police and paramilitary forces also use such systems and are keen to further their use of UAS for their counter insurgency and other tasks. The CRPF has been successful in using UAS to monitor ground conversation and watch closely Maoist movements in the forested terrain of Chattisgarh. Apart from the Searcher series and Heron, which are available with the Armed Forces and other Government agencies, it has also used the Netra, a MAV, developed by DRDO. It now wants to acquire more such modern platforms to gain an upper hand over the insurgents.

            An unmanned system, AARUSH XI, has been developed and tested by an 11-member student team from Delhi Technological University. It is a next generation system for urban applications and has been designed in collaboration with an American company, Lockheed Martin. The system is capable of a fully autonomous take-off, waypoint navigation and autonomous imagery as well; it has a capability of carrying 8-10 kg of payload and a speed of 120kmph. The UAS has great potential for a number of civil applications, such as, law enforcement, meteorological operations, pipeline surveillance, mining surveillance, disaster management, and coastal and border patrolling, to name a few.

Emerging Technology

            Technology is driving military and civilian uses of UAS into areas previously untried. While the UCAVs are in the news for their use by USAF against terrorist targets in the Middle East and in Afghanistan and Pakistan, other UAVs are being used for police surveillance, monitoring forest fires, inspecting wind turbines, crops, high-rise buildings and power lines. The possibilities seem endless.

            On the smallest size, living moths have been implanted with electrodes in their nervous systems to control their movements; on the largest and grandest size, unmanned flights are expected to be flying in controlled civilian air space by the end of this decade. A crucial technology that would then be needed is a robust “sense and avoid system” to permit unmanned flights in a busy and congested air space. Drone technology is rapidly spreading across the globe, and for the present, the military is driving the innovation. The time, however, is not far when commercial and other civil applications will dictate the roles and technology for UAS.

            Two interesting new technologies are worth a mention for the information of the reader. First, Boeing, the major aircraft manufacturing company of the world, and the USAF have completed the first unmanned QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Target flight. The QF-16 is ‘retired’ F-16  jet, modified to be an aerial target. The aircraft flight profile included auto take off, simulated manoeuvres, supersonic flight, and an auto landing – all this without a pilot in the cockpit! The other attention grabbing news is about a hypersonic drone developed on the lines on the earlier Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft. The SR-72, nicknamed ‘Son of Blackbird’, is designed to fly at speeds up to Mach 6 with hypersonic missiles. It is developed for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike missions and can penetrate restricted/prohibited air space to strike any location across a continent, all within an hour. The SR-72 could enter service with USAF in 2030.

Concluding Thoughts

             A new generation of deadly unmanned weapons has arrived. The operators, or should we call them as warriors, sitting in dimly lit rooms, thousands of miles away, engaging targets halfway across the globe. It is not only the ‘war on terror’, but also the future of many a military doctrine in the world with the nature of warfare being affected. Not too far in the past, the use of drones was laughed at by professional soldiers; today, with evolving technologies, however, the very same soldiers are integrating the capabilities of the drones as force multipliers and game-changers in warfare.

            Countries across the world are developing and applying newer technologies to increase their inventory of UAS. The use of the unmanned systems in warfare in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Middle East has amply demonstrated the battlefield capabilities, particularly in strikes against terrorist camps. There is serious thinking in the Royal Air Force (RAF) to replace 30 per cent of the fighter aircraft with UCAVs. The US Navy is planning to deploy an unmanned drone that recently carried out successful landings on an aircraft carrier.

            In India, the research is yet in the nascent stage; the present holding of the systems is extremely low and dependent upon foreign countries. The road map for development and procurement needs to be clearly drawn for the future; any process undertaken, as by the DRDO or any of the DPSUs or private industries, singly or in joint ventures, must meet timelines, as inordinate delays may be operationally expensive.

            Apart from the development and subsequent manufacture, future UAS in India will have other challenges to face; adequacy of bandwidth, air space management, data management and inter-operability will require a responsive networking system capable of sharing information. It is, thus, essential for the Armed Forces to bring out an actionable joint plan, in collaboration with DRDO, ISRO, DGCA, MHA and MoD, charting the road map for UAS operations in India for the next 25 years. This will go a long way in planning the development of not only new technologies, but also the training of operators. As the strategic importance of UAS increases, it is up to the R&D and the industry to respond to deliver systems that are ever more cost effective, reliable and survivable.