Indian UAV Firm Rewarded for Initiative
Speck Systems of Hyderabad, India, recently decided to build on its expertise in GIS(Geographic Information Systems) and software, and formed an alliance with Flying Robots of France to manufacture mini and micro UAV solutions. Then their Baaz man-portable, mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was developed even though the Indian Army had not issued any solicitations for such a product. The mini-UAV is about 0.5 m long with a 1.5 m wingspan, and a claimed maximum range/altitude of 10km, maximum speed of 60 kph/ 36 mph, and/or endurance of up to 90 minutes. It has 3-axis, gyro-stabilized day/night cameras from an unspecified manufacturer (though they are partnered with Thales), can be hand or bungee-cord launched, and reportedly requires 20 minutes to assemble.
In response, the Indian Army has stepped outside of bureaucratic norms and invited the company for field trials; the UAV is also lined up for technical demonstration in Thailand, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Speck Systems is reportedly developing a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV counterpart “with a foreign partner.” See full article in the Hindu – though DID notes that Speck appears to be rather older than 11 months. Perhaps The Hindu was referring to the UAV division’s age.
