The Indian Army is set to induct its first Hermes-900 drone in a major boost to its surveillance capabilities along the Pakistan border.
The drones, also known as the Drishti-10 drones, will be inducted at Hyderabad on May 18 in the presence of senior Army officials. It would be handed over by the Adani Defence to it, senior defence officials said.
The Indian Army has placed orders for two of these drones from the firm under emergency provisions that mandate that the systems supplied by vendors should be more than 60 per cent indigenous and should be under the ‘Make in India’ in Defence. The Indian Army has plans to deploy these drones at the Bathinda base in Punjab, from where it can keep an eye on a large area, including the desert sector as well as the areas north to the Punjab, military officials said.
The Indian Army is already operating the Heron Mark 1 and Mark 2 drones and has also placed orders for the Drishti-10 or the Hermes-900 drones under the last tranche of the emergency procurements approved by the government for the forces.
Adani Defence had signed a deal with the Israeli firm Elbit for the transfer of technology for the drones and stated that it has indigenised 70 per cent of the birds and will work to increase them further.
The Indian Army has also inducted more satellite communication enabled birds from Israel as it has a few Heron Mark 2 birds.