Indian Navy, Air Force showing interest in indigenous Tapas drones

The Indian Navy and Air Force have held discussions and communicated with the Defence Research and Development Organisation regarding the capabilities of the drone and the roles it can perform in the services, defence officials told ANI.

The Tapas drone capabilities were discussed in detail during a DRDO interaction with the forces. The Indian Air Force has also written to the DRDO in this regard, they said.

The DRDO is also likely to hand over the two Tapas drones in its inventory to the Indian Navy for trials and testing in the Andaman and Nicobar Island territory, the officials said.

If the trials are successful and meet the roles for which the force wants them, there is a possibility of the Indian Navy placing orders for around 10-12 drones.

The Indian Air Force would also look at the performance of the drones along with other issues before it decides further on the issue, they said.

The DRDO recently rubbished reports about shelving of the Tapas drone project and announced that it is continuing with it to further develop the Tapas drones.

The Tapas drones being developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment Laboratory have not been able to fully meet the Joint Services Qualitative Requirements of flying at 30,000 feet for over 24 hours at a stretch and have been excluded from the category of mission mode projects.

The Tapas drones have been tested by the defence forces and during the trials, they managed to reach 28,000 feet altitude and could fly for over 18 hours, they said.

DRDO officials said the laboratory concerned would be working on improving designs and increasing the power in the drone to make it more suitable for service requirements of altitude and endurance, which it was not able to meet in the recent evaluations.

The premier defence research agency led by Dr Samir V Kamat has been working on major drone projects, including unmanned combat aerial vehicles like Ghatak and Archer. (ANI)