The army on Friday confirmed that it would purchase 12 Nishant Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for reconnaissance and surveillance.
"Nishant has met all the requirements of the armed forces," Defence Research and Development Organisation Controller, R&D, Dipankar Banerjee said while addressing media persons at the Aero India 2005 show in Bangalore.
He added that the Indian Air Force has also expressed interest in acquiring the indigenously developed UAV.
Nishant, designed and developed by DRDO's Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment, has an endurance of over four hours with a 45 kg payload capacity and has an integrated sensor package that includes a 35mm mini pan camera.
Banerjee said the ADE has taken up several long-range UAV programmes, which include several variants of Nishant.
"We are exploring tie-ups with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and other companies to manufacture the UAVs," he said.
Talking about media reports on Israel rejecting India's Pilotless Target Aircraft Lakshya, Banerjee said, "We will approach Israel again and are hopeful of getting the order."
He added, "When we had made the offer, Israel did not want to buy Lakshya, but they wanted lease operations. We have not heard from them since then."
Stating that India did not have any current programme to develop Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles, Banerjee said, "It is still one generation ahead. Like any other country we are also obviously thinking of UCAVs, but there is no programme now."
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