Conditions have been laid down in case of such exemption for aerial surveillance, aerial photography and public announcements related to Covid-19. Exemption is limited to battery-operated rotary-wing RPAs. Use of any other type of RPA, including but not limited to, fixed-wing RPA and autonomous RPA etc. is strictly prohibited.

Details of every RPA flight will be uploaded on Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) Digital Sky Platform within seven days of undertaking the flight. Any incident or accident related to any RPA operation shall be immediately reported to Ministry of Civial Aviation (MoCA) and DGCA through the Digital Sky Platform.

The RPA will have a Unique Identification Number (UIN) and/or Drone Acknowledgment Number (DAN) issued by DGCA; not exceed a total all-up weight of 25 kg; equipped with an automatic return-to-home feature in case of any loss of the command-and-control link; restricted to a height of 200 feet Above Ground Limit (AGL); operated within visual line of sight (VLOS) at all times; operated while maintaining safe distance from people, buildings, vehicles and property at all times; not pick, drop, spray or discharge any substance; restricted to a period between local sunrise and local sunset.

Safety and security distances have also been laid down – not within a distance of 5 km from the perimeter of airports at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad; not within a distance of 3 km from the perimeter of other civil, private or defence airports; not within permanent or temporary Prohibited, Restricted and Danger Areas including Temporary Reserved Airspace (TRA), and Temporarily Segregated Areas (TSA), as notified in the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP); not within 25km from international border which includes Line of Control (LoC), Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL); beyond 500 m (horizontal) into sea from coast line provided the location of ground station is on fixed platform over land; not within 3 km from perimeter of military installations/ facilities/ where military activities/ exercises are being carried out unless clearance is obtained from the local military installation/facility; not within 5 km radius from Vijay Chowk in Delhi. This is subject to additional conditions/ restrictions imposed by local law enforcement agencies/ authorities;  not within 3 km radius from State Secretariat Complex in State Capitals; and not within 2 km from perimeter of strategic locations/vital installations notified by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

 ‘Pandemic Drone’ to Detect Coronavirus

A ‘pandemic drone’ to remotely monitor and detect people with infectious respiratory conditions is being developed by the University of South Australia (UniSA) in partnership with a Canadian company.

The drone will be fitted with a specialised sensor and computer vision system that can monitor temperature, heart and respiratory rates, as well as detect people sneezing and coughing in crowds, offices, airports, cruise ships, aged care homes and other places where groups of people may work or congregate.

The UniSA team led by Defence Chair of Sensor Systems  Professor Javaan Chahl, who holds a joint appointment DST, will work with Draganfly Inc, a North American drone technology company, to immediately start integrating commercial, medical and government customers.

Professor Chahl, working alongside Dr Ali Al-Naji and Asanka Perera, achieved global recognition in 2017 when they demonstrated image-processing algorithms that could extract a human’s heart rate from drone video.

Since then they have demonstrated that heart rate  and breathing rate can be measured with high accuracy within 5-10 metres of people, using drones and at distances of up to 50 metres with fixed cameras. They have also developed algorithms that can interpret human actions such as sneezing and coughing.

He says the technology could be a viable screening tool for the Covid-19 pandemic.

MSMEs Can Get UAV Projects

MSMEs in drone manufacturing have found the going difficult and with the pandemic melt down of the manufacturing in India, may require impetus more than ever to remain commercially viable.

While the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been trying to indigenize these, the private sector UAV industry has been growing. Unfortunately the evolution of technology has been restricted due to ambiguity in implementation of Drone Regulations promulgated by Airport Authority of India (AAI).

In a letter to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) has requested for a directive to be issued to the DRDO, Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) and the Services to prepare a list of projects that can shared with the private sector companies and the MSMEs.

DRDO’s long range multi-mission drone, Rustom-2 has been under development since 2011, even after realizing multiple airframes and Design Validation Flights (DVF) by 2017 itself, there have been delays to meet the User’s requirements.

In the mini UAVs category, Netra is a Quadcopter developed by DRDO with Private industry Partnership and could be supplied to Police and Para military services, even Indian Army exploited these drones but technological advancement pushed for upgradation of these mini UAVS.

Due to restrictions in explosive ordnance handling by commercial agencies, the design and development of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) for attack role have been limited in India. India’s first weaponized drone was undertaken by National Security Guards (NSG) in 2018. A private MSME completed the successful development and subsequent manufacture trials of ‘Kamikaze’ explosive laden mini-Quadcopter drones. However, due to complicated procurement procedures has not been inducted yet.

Overall, the armed forces are still dependent on import of UAVs for operational missions, and is spending dollars for maintenance like spares, annual maintenance contracts (AMC) signed with the original equipment manufacturers (OEM), etc, as India has not been able to manufacture any indigenous UAVs.

IAF Interested in Swarm Drones Launched From Aircraft

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been researching several types of swarm drone technology that could be used on the battlefield. According to Pentagon acquisition head Ellen Lord, one particular programme has impressed the Indian Air Force (IAF) due to which US and India have discussed collaborating on such efforts to build a relatively low-cost unmanned aircraft that can be launched from a “mother ship” transport aircraft like C-130J which IAF already has in its fleet and then be recovered by the same mother ship after their mission is complete.

The IAF also wants to include other “mother ship” transport aircraft like its C-17 fleet and primarily talks were held last year about collaboration between US Air Force Research Laboratory and DRDO. Further talks will likely be held later in 2020 to work on the technicality of the proposed joint venture.

According to DARPA’s concept, a jet-powered drone can be launched from the C-130 wing pylons and recovered by using a docking cable and a crane-like recovery arm from the cargo door. DARPA is looking at the drones that can be used as a potential line-of-sight communications link in contested environments where radios could be jammed, as well as use its sensor platforms for surveillance and targeting.

Each C-130J will be able to launch 4 such Jet powered SWARM drones which can be tasked to perform specific individual tasks and interact with each other using autonomous mode and all can be recovered within 20 minutes.

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The U.S. has its own plans to roll out hypersonic weapons. The technology is nearly at the point of development of rocket-boosted hypersonic glide vehicles. The next evolution will be producing air-breathing hypersonic vehicles, which can carry a heavier payload.

The science and research is being done collaboratively by the US Missile Defence Agency (MDA), Space Development Agency (SDA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Key to hypersonic weapons will be the development of thermal protection systems that protect the vehicles when they enter the earth’s atmosphere from space at high speed and heat up.

Russia and China are currently producing these. The Chinese hypersonic threat is severe and increasing. They outrun and outrange the US’s best radars.

A problem is tracking these weapons. The target acquisition, tracking and fire-control problem solution will have to come from the space domain. Sensors will have to be put into space to track these very dim targets against the clutter of earth background.

Japan Unveils Plans for Hypersonic Weapons

The Japanese blueprint reportedly stipulates the development of the Hypersonic Cruise Missile (HCM) and the Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile (HVGP) which are expected to enter service in the early 2030s.

The Japanese government has unveiled its research and development road map to create domestically-produced hypersonic weapons. Under the plan, there will be two classes of hypersonic weapon systems, including the Hypersonic Cruise Missile (HCM) and the Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile (HVGP). Powered by a scramjet engine, the HCM appears similar to a typical missile, albeit one that cruises at a much higher speed while capable of traveling at long ranges. The HVGP, it will reportedly feature a solid-fuel rocket engine capable of boosting its warhead payload and maintaining high velocity when gliding to its target. The blueprint stipulates using different warheads to tackle seaborne and ground targets, including one that will be specifically designed to penetrate the deck of an aircraft carrier.

The warhead’s land-attack version, in turn, will feature a high-density explosively formed projectile, or EFP, to be used for area suppression purposes. Both warheads, which will be navigated via satellites, are expected to enter service in the early 2030s.

As far as warhead guidance is concerned, the process will be achieved via either radio-frequency imaging converted from Doppler shift data – which the government agency said will be able to identify stealthy naval targets in all weather conditions – or an infrared seeker capable to discriminating specific targets.

Unarmed Hypersonic Missile Tested

The United States announced, on 20 March, that it has successfully tested an unarmed prototype of a hypersonic missile, a nuclear-capable weapon that could accelerate the arms race between superpowers. The Pentagon said a test glide vehicle flew at hypersonic speeds – more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5 – to a designated impact point. The joint Army-Navy test was carried out on March 19 from the Pacific Missile Range facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The test was for the military’s common-hypersonic glide body, or C-HGB weapon, designed to be launched from a rocket that could be land-, air- or sea-based.

The test followed the first joint US Army and Navy flight experiment in October 2017, when the prototype missile demonstrated it could glide in the direction of a target at hypersonic speed.

The Pentagon is pressing to catch up with rivals Moscow and Beijing in the race to develop hypersonics, even as it recognizes they could dangerously raise the risks of a nuclear conflict, as countries struggle to build defenses against them.

In its fiscal 2021 budget the US Defense Department requested $3.2 billion for hypersonic programmes, up from $2.6 billion in 2020. The goal is a deployable hypersonic capability by 2023, though that could be difficult.

Russia and China

In December 2019, Russia declared it had placed into service its first Avangard hypersonic missile, making it the first country to claim an operable hypersonic weapon. Russian officials claimed that in tests it had reached speeds of up to Mach 27, roughly 33,000 kilometers per hour.

China is also investing significantly in their development. Last October it displayed its DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicle in its national day military parade. The US military is meanwhile pouring money into advanced missile defense research to find ways to protect against hypersonics.

Layered Missile Defense

The MDA, in cooperative work with Israel and Japan, is planning to build next-generation interceptor and space-based sensors to track fast moving and fast maneuvering threats such as hypersonic weapons.

A system called Command and Control Battle Management Communications is being built that will allow operators to pass control or tracking information between various ballistic missile systems, such as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), Patriot, Standard Missile-6 and Aegis.

Sm3 Block 1B missiles are in production now. These are designed for midcourse engagement from ships and Aegis ashore sites. The SM3 Block 2A, going into production now will be tested later in 2020 against an intercontinental ballistic missile target. Upgraded early warning radars are being built in Alaska. The department is also seeking to produce a more capable THAAD design.

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In 2013, DARPA announced the advanced One Shot XG program to substantially increase the efficiency of the military snipers. The program revolves around a small, mountable scope system that can either be placed on its spotting scope or on weapon’s barrel. The scope is designed to automatically calculate a number of decisive variables, such as wind conditions, weapon alignment etc., using an internal OS.

Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance

The Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance Program is a project initiated by DARPA, in which they are developing a class of smart and self guided bullets that can change their projected path during the flight to align with the movement of the target or due to any external factors that may drive the bullet off course.

It has an advanced real-time optical guidance systems that lets you track and direct projectiles – bullets to their targets by adjusting for weather, wind, target movement and other factors. In 2016, Russia also revealed that they are already working on a similar “smart bullet” designed to hit targets at a distance of up to 10 km.

Cornershot

This can be the biggest life saver of all in urban combat, where soldiers have to navigate buildings, walls and other obstacles, and if they could shoot their opponents without leaving the cover of a wall, then the risk involved will be greatly reduced. Of course, a bend barrel wouldn’t be such a good idea, so they had to improvise. And the Cornershot is what it led to. A nozzle mounted video camera relays a video feed to a screen on which soldiers can analyze the battleground and take on enemies with no risk of bringing harm to themselves.

Sonic Guns

Sonic and ultrasonic weapons (USW) are weapons of various types that use sound to injure, incapacitate, or kill an opponent. Some sonic weapons are currently in limited use or in research and development by military and police forces. Some of these weapons have been described as sonic bullets, sonic grenades, sonic mines, or sonic cannons. Some make a focused beam of sound or ultrasound; some make an area field of sound.

Extremely high-power sound waves can disrupt or destroy the eardrums of a target and cause severe pain or disorientation. This is usually sufficient to incapacitate a person. Less powerful sound waves can cause humans to experience nausea or discomfort. The use of these frequencies to incapacitate persons has occurred both in anti-citizen special operation and crowd control settings.

Laser Induced Plasma

Effect Weapon

The Pentagon is working on a weapon that uses lasers and plasma to transmit sound files, even human speech, directly to individual people at great distances. The lasers could be beamed down from military planes or other vehicles to issue instructions or disperse crowds of protestors or otherwise disgruntled people in the area. Individuals begin to hear strange, disembodied voices and see bright lights that come seemingly from nowhere, while others duck for cover from phantom machine gun fire or begin to feel a burning sensation.

This specific project, called Non-Lethal Laser Induced Plasma Effects (NL LIPE), aims to have a perfected a beam that can produce audible instructions and commands to an individual or a small group of people within three years and maybe have a practical prototype system ready in five years.

The Pentagon’s central less-than-lethal weapon office, called the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD), is working on it.

Russia’s Filin 5P-42

The Filin 5P-42, a new non-lethal light-based optical interference system designed for military and law enforcement use, is capable of effectively suppressing enemy optical systems including, sniper sights, laser rangefinders, guidance systems and thermal imagers in low light conditions.

By increasing or decreasing the number of emitters in a single system, and combining components with a lower or greater power output, it’s possible to create both strong stations for military and special purpose use and weaker ones for the civilian market, including use by large companies for security or for guarded facilities.

Filin is not so much a weapon as it is a system of protection against weapons. The system interferes with the enemy rifleman or gunner’s ability to aim correctly, to the extent that it may cause some hallucinatory symptoms. While lasers emits a rather powerful beam of light, and can damage both optics and a gunner’s sight, Filin does not blind the adversary.

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