The sources declined to specify the number of drones the Navy plans to acquire but said the focus is now on manufacturing the MK-II in India through partnerships with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Elcom.
Under the ambitious Project Cheetah, the Indian Air Force wants to upgrade its existing fleet of Israeli-origin Heron unmanned aerial vehicles with better communication facilities and missiles which can target enemy positions from long range.
A Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicle of the Indian Air Force, used for surveillance, crashed on Wednesday on the outskirts of a village near Bhuj town in Gujarat's Kutch district.
The Heron unmanned aerial vehicles are already in the Air Force, Navy, and the Army and are being used extensively at the moment by both Army surveillance and Target acquisition batteries and Air Force in the Ladakh sector.
The INAS 343 squadron, which has two Israeli-made Heron and two Searcher MKII UAVs, was commissioned by the Gujarat Governor Dr Kamla Beniwal on Monday.
The foremost lesson for India today is to beef up its air defence to cater for multiple drone attacks. As seen in Operation Sindoor, we have come a long way, but there's room for getting better. We must develop a robust and almost impregnable air cover over ourselves, asserts IAF veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
The Navy's Maritime Aerial reconnaissance capacity had been depleted recently after its Russian acquired IL-38 aircraft crashed and the longer range TU142 was dispatched to Russia for upgradation.
On the shopping list: Light tanks, anti-tank guided missiles, UAVs, assault rifles, fighter aircraft.
The SpyLite aerial system will help our soldiers in border flashpoints like Doklam and in encounters with terrorists in Kashmir.
'Having been an air warrior myself for three decades, I am sure the IAF has all the info in place to be divulged at the right time,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
DRDO's failures over the decades have contributed significantly to India becoming the world's biggest weapons importer, points out Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
'As the tanks roll down Delhi's Rajpath and the C-17s fly overhead, there could be a lot brewing in Hyderabad House,' says Surya Gangadharan.
The army has about 200 UAVs, mostly the Searcher 1, Searcher 2 and Heron supplied by Israeli Aerospace Industries, but security experts feel mini-UAVs will give troops an edge in operations against militants.
UAVs are an intrinsic part of today's technology driven battlefield. Indians don't seem to be taking the challenge with the degree of urgency that is required, says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'If UAV technology is used by the adversary to target VIPs or strategic targets it would be a different ball game altogether,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
DRDO says it is working with the navy to fit the Rustom-1 with an Automatic Identification System that will identify Indian fishing vessels along the maritime boundary
'It is my opinion that not releasing the Balakote Battle Damage Assessment immediately post strike was a phenomenal blunder, perception battle wise,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd), India's former air adviser in Pakistan.
What must India do now?
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