DRDO adapts drone developed for COVID-19 surveillance to monitor borders

Expected to be deployed along LAC in eastern Ladakh

 

Chandigarh(Agencies): An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to monitor public areas during the COVID-19 lockdown has been adapted to monitor border areas.

It is first expected to be deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh as the stand-off with China in eastern Ladakh continues and disengagement of troops is facing hurdles.

The drone, christened ‘Bharat’, has been developed by DRDO’s Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), is capable of undertaking real-time surveillance as well as broadcasting live public announcements.

The project had been conceived recently in response to the requirements for technologies to mitigate the COVID-19 threat.

 “The drone is capable of providing real-time video feed as well as still images to its operators and its controlling software has built-in artificial intelligence tools for analysis and decision-making,” a senior DRDO scientist said.

 “We have made certain modifications to the earlier model and incorporated some additional features that can make its deployment effective in border areas,” he added.

The design of the drone is said to incorporate low observable features to make its detection difficult by the adversary. Projected to be among the world’s lightest and most agile and surveillance platforms, it has an operational range of a few kilometres and is meant for tactical intelligence gathering and surveillance in a localised area.

Bharat has been designed entirely by TBRL, which is involved in development, production, processing and characterisation of different high-explosive compositions, fragmentation studies of warheads, captive flight testing of bombs, missiles and airborne systems and ballistics evaluation of protective system like body armour, vehicle armour and helmets.

It has also developed other products like face shields and examination enclosures for the medical fraternity and contactless sanitizer dispenser for use in the fight against COVID-19.

Bharat has been ruggedised to operate in high altitude areas and in extreme climatic conditions. Its payload includes an array of sensors, including infrared and night vision equipment to operate in varied geographical environments.

Advanced drones for use by local commanders in the field within their own area of responsibility have for long been on the Army’s wish list and some variants with different operational capability are already in service.

The Army is also looking at employment of miniature drones to keep a watch on mountain passes during winters when high snow makes movement of troops or manning forward outposts difficult.