DRDO's Rustom 1.2 - Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV

NEW DELHI: India's Ministry of Defence has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for Mini Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (High Altitude) for the Indian Army. A total of 75 units are needed and the Request for Proposal (RFP) is likely to be issued in April 2019.

The UAVs should come with Man Portable Ground Control Station, a Remote Video Terminal, Day and Night sensor packages, and a Two Way Airborne Data Relay to control the UAV beyond the line of sight, among other components. It should also have anti-spoofing and anti-jamming technology. A number of maps which can be updated should also be supported.

The Ministry is also having an interaction with interested vendors at Sena Bhawan, New Delhi on October 31, 2018.

An overview of the Army's requirement was indicated in the Ministry of Defence's ‘Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap-2018’ issued earlier. The document listed equipment that is envisaged to be inducted into the armed forces up to the late 2020s.

UAVs are major force multipliers in surveillance gathering and combat warfare.