Indian Navy For New Rotory-UAVs

The photos above show Austrian firm Schiebel's CAMCOPTER S-100 unmanned helicopter during a demo for the Indian Navy aboard one of its Sukanya-class offshore patrol vessels. This was October 2007 in the Arabian Sea. Three years forward, the Navy today published an RFI to support a potential buy of VTOL UAVs -- really, rotory-wing shipborne UAVs. The Navy supports the IAI-HAL Chetak-based NRUAV programme, but has identified the need for the capability before the tentative timeframe offered by IAI and HAL to operationalise the NRUAV. The Northrop-Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout is a certain contender.

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