New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS): In a bid to boost the country’s maritime surveillance capabilities, Adani Defence and Aerospace has handed over a second Drishti-10 Starliner surveillance drone to the Indian Navy.
Drishti 10 Starliner drone or UAV, manufactured by Adani Defence and Aerospace which is part of the Adani Group in Hyderabad, is an advanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platform with 36 hours of endurance and 450-kg payload capacity.
According to sources close to the development, the induction of the second UAV, a version of Israel's Hermes 900 medium-altitude long-endurance UAV, into naval maritime operations was initiated at Porbandar in Gujarat.
The first Drishti-10 drone was delivered to the Indian Navy earlier this year.
This marks the first-ever integration of such advanced payload suites onto a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) platform, enabling the Indian Navy with differentiated capabilities to dominate maritime surveillance. MALE is a type of UAV that can fly at altitudes of 10,000 to 30,000 feet.
Adani Defence previously delivered the Drishti-10 Starliner to the Indian Army in June this year. The Army will deploy it at its Bhatinda base in Punjab, from where it can keep an eye on the western border with Pakistan.
Drishti-10 Starliner is the only unmanned military platform with NATO ‘STANAG 4671’ certification, which allows military UAVs to operate in other NATO members' airspace.
It has four hard points on wings, and a large internal bay for special missions. Drishti-10 Starliner provides over the horizon, persistent multi-payload, fully autonomous capabilities and SATCOM-based operations.
It is the country’s only indigenous UAV, operating reliably above 32,000 feet with large payload-carrying capacity and distinctively long endurance.
Adani Defence and Aerospace boasts several 'firsts' to its credit – from being India’s first private sector military UAV manufacturer exporting to global markets, to establishing India's first private small arms manufacturing facility, and the country’s first private sector ammunition player, thus nurturing a domestic defence ecosystem.