India‘s BEL enters UAV market to thwart airfield attacks

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is developing a tethered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to thwart future infiltration attacks on air bases.

BEL officials said that the company is working on a programme to develop the tethered UAV system, which weighs 9 kg and is designed to loiter in a fixed position above airfields and army bases, providing 360-degree surveillance capability.

“The UAV is tethered by an optical fibre cable, which also has a power line leading to a ground-based battery,” a BEL official said. The officials added that the UAV has an onboard backup battery system with five minutes of power.

The UAV, as per specifications disclosed by the company, contains a single charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor that has a range of 2 km in daylight. At night, the visible range is 1 km. A second electro-optical/infrared sensor has a range of 600 m.

BEL officials said the UAV can stay airborne for six hours. The rotor operation is limited by overheating after six hours and must be cooled for an hour.