| Imperial Eagle UAV | |
|---|---|
| Role | Miniature UAV |
| National origin | India |
| Designer | Aeronautical Development Establishment [1] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Aerospace Laboratories |
| First flight | 25 January 2012 |
| Status | Flight tested |
| Primary users | National Security Guard Indian Army Indian Air Force |
The Imperial Eagle is an Indian light-weight mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment, National Aerospace Laboratories and supported by private vendors. [2] Its primary users will be the National Security Guard and the military services. [3] [4] [5]
The Imperial Eagle weighs 2.5 kg and can carry either a daylight camera or thermal night vision camera. It was designed to be carried in soldier’s backpack, be hand-launched and recoverable through a soft landing. It is completely autonomous and can be programmed with navigational way-points, which can be changed in-flight by the ground control. With a ground tracker system, it is capable of providing continuous imagery of the on-board camera irrespective of the attitude of the aircraft. [6]
The major advantage of the vehicle is that it functions on autopilot. Its orientation can be controlled using a dedicated real-time operating system (RTOS). Further, the UAV can be tracked using Automatic Gain Control or GPS-based systems. Patrolling across the target area, the UAV will send images day and night. Zooming in over the enemy area, the UAV can carry a payload of about 250 g and has an accuracy of 1 degree. [3]
According to DRDO spokesperson Ravi Kumar Gupta, the UAV had been tested for several years, and the program has been deemed successful after the flight tests in January 2012. [3]
Many components of the UAV, like the autopilot, thermal camera, data links, trackers and the carbon composites air-frame were provided by the private industry in India. [1] [7]
The unique features of Imperial Eagle have already caught the attention of several premier institutions and paramilitary wings. National Security Guard (NSG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), National Institute of Disaster Management and home department of several states have shown interest in procuring the vehicle. ADE’s senior officers have already made a detailed presentation to NSG officials. [3]
 |
General characteristics
Performance
The IAI Heron (Machatz-1) is a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Malat (UAV) division of Israel Aerospace Industries. It is capable of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) operations of up to 52 hours' duration at up to 10.5 km (35,000 ft). It has demonstrated 52 hours of continuous flight, but the effective operational maximal flight duration is less, according to payload and flight profile. An advanced version, the Heron TP, is also known as the IAI Eitan.
The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aerial vehicle built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and is used for reconnaissance. The ScanEagle was designed by Insitu based on the Insitu SeaScan, a commercial UAV that was intended for fish-spotting. The ScanEagle continues to receive improvements through upgrades and changes.
A miniature UAV, small UAV (SUAV), or drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle small enough to be man-portable. Smallest UAVs are called micro air vehicle.
The DRDO Nishant - is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by India's Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a branch of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Armed Forces. The Nishant UAV is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering over enemy territory and also for reconnaissance, training, surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction, damage assessment, ELINT and SIGINT. The UAV has an endurance of four hours and thirty minutes. Nishant has completed development phase and user trials. However, further development of the project was cancelled after all of the four prototypes and production UAVs crashed due to various and unkown reasons.
Lakshya is a remotely piloted high speed Indian target drone system developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO. A variant Lakshya-1 is used to perform discreet aerial reconnaissance of battlefield and target acquisition.
Aeronautical Development Establishment is a laboratory of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation. Located in Bangalore, its primary function is research and development in the field of military aviation.
The DRDO Rustom is a family of medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned air vehicle (UAV) being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the three services, Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, of the Indian Armed Forces. Rustom is derived from the NAL's LCRA developed by a team under the leadership of late Professor Rustom Damania in the 1980s. The UAV will have structural changes and a new engine.
The AeroVironment Wasp III Small Unmanned Aircraft System is a miniature UAV developed for United States Air Force special operations to provide a small, light-weight vehicle to provide beyond-line-of-sight situation awareness. The aircraft is equipped with two on-board cameras to provide real-time intelligence to its operators. It is also equipped with GPS and an Inertial Navigation System enabling it to operate autonomously from takeoff to recovery. It was designed by AeroVironment Inc., and was first added to the Air Force inventory in 2007. There are two Wasp variants: the traditional version that lands on land, and a version that lands into the sea or fresh water. The Air Force accepted the Wasp AE in late May 2012, and the U.S. Marine Corps revealed in January 2013 that they had ordered the Wasp AE. The Wasp AE is designated as the RQ-12A.
Kapothaka was a technology demonstrator mini-UAV for reconnaissance. The Kapothaka which means “dove” is believed to be a predecessor of Nishant UAV system.
Ghatak (pronounced: gʰɑːt̪ək; lit. 'Deadly' in Hindi), initially designated as Indian Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (IUSAV), is an autonomous jet powered stealthy unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), being developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Air Force. The design work on the UCAV is to be carried out by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA) was a tentative name for the UCAV. Details of the project are classified.
Sudarshan is an Indian laser-guided bomb kit, developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a DRDO lab with technological support from another DRDO lab Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The DRDO Netra is an Indian, light-weight, autonomous UAV for surveillance and reconnaissance operations. It has been jointly developed by the Research and Development Establishment (R&DE), and IdeaForge, a Mumbai-based private firm.
The Boeing Insitu RQ-21 Blackjack, company name Integrator, is an American unmanned air vehicle designed and built by Boeing Insitu to meet a United States Navy requirement for a small tactical unmanned air system (STUAS). It is a twin-boom, single-engine monoplane, designed as a supplement to the Boeing Scan Eagle. The Integrator weighs 61 kg (134 lb) and uses the same launcher and recovery system as the Scan Eagle.
The NAL/ADE Black Kite is an unmanned Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) technology demonstrator developed jointly by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) of CSIRI and supported by private vendors. It is one of the airframe designs being pursued for " National Program on Micro Air Vehicles" (NP-MICAV)
The NAL/ADE Golden Hawk is an unmanned Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) technology demonstrator developed jointly by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) of CSIR. It based on basic design of Shashank Misra and is one of the airframe designs being pursued for " National Program on Micro Air Vehicles" (NP-MICAV)
The NAL/ADE Pushpak is an unmanned Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) technology demonstrator developed jointly by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of DRDO and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) of CSIRI. It is one of the airframe designs being pursued for "National Program on Micro Air Vehicles" (NP-MICAV)
The DRDO Abhyas is a high-speed expendable aerial target being built by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Armed Forces.
The Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance Beyond Horizon-201 or TAPAS BH-201(Sanskrit: तपस्; lit. Heat) is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) being developed in India by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) on the lines of General Atomics MQ-1 Predator.
The HAL Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) is an Indian unmanned and manned combat aircraft air teaming system being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The system will consist of a manned fighter aircraft acting as "mothership" of the system and a set of swarming UAVs and UCAVs governed by the mothership aircraft. A twin-seated HAL Tejas is likely to be the mothership aircraft. Various other sub components of the system are currently under development and will be jointly produced by HAL, National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Newspace Research & Technologies.
