Project Cheeta

 

Indian Armed Forces revive “Project Cheetah”

The Indian Armed Forces have decided to revive “Project Cheetah” amidst tensions with China. The project was pending for a long time and the tri-services have now decided to revive the project under Rs 3,500 crores.

Ajay Kumar Committee

The proposal of reviving “Project Cheetah” has been sent to a newly formed high-level defence ministry committee under Ajay Kumar. Ajay Kumar is the defence secretary. He is in charge of all capital procurements of Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

About the Project

Under the project, around 90 Heron drones of the services are to be upgraded with laser-guided bombs, air launched anti-tank guided missiles and air to ground anti-tank guided missiles. The project was pending over a long period of time.

The Indian fleet of drones mainly includes Israeli equipment including Herons. They were deployed in both Indian Air Force and Army. They are currently deployed in Ladakh and China borders. The project is being launched to upgrade the drones that are carrying out offensive operations against the enemies especially in the borders. They will also be used to counter terrorism in the future.

Currently, drones are used to verify disengagement by Chinese as well as to learn about their troop build up.

Benefits

The upgrade will help the Armed forces ground stations to operate the drones from far distances and also control them through satellite communication system. Also, the upgrade will help to pin-point intelligence about hideouts where men were involved earlier.

The project will mainly include several Indian developed solutions thereby helping to make India become self-sufficient.

Heron UAVs

The Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was made in Israel. It is a medium-altitude UAV. It is capable of returning to base autonomously in case of lost communication. It carries up to 250 kg of weight including thermographic camera, airborne ground surveillance visible light, radar systems, etc.