When tech billionaire Elon Musk says that future wars will be won by nations with the most effective drones, he is not bluffing at all.
The Indian Army has received the first batch of 'suicide drones' called ‘Nagastra-1’ which can strike enemy training camps and launch pads in border areas with precision and save soldiers’ lives.
According to reports, these high-tech drones are made in India by Economic Explosives Limited (EEL), a subsidiary of Solar Industries in Nagpur.
The Army placed an order of 480 such drones and at least 120 of them have reportedly been delivered.
What are these 'suicide drones'?
‘Nagastra-1’ is a type of “loitering munition”, where the aerial weapon is designed with an in-built warhead, designed to loiter around an area until a target is located and then crash into it.
These indigenously developed drones offer more selective targeting as the attack can be changed mid-flight or even aborted.
In a ‘kamikaze mode’, the drone can neutralise any threat with a GPS-enabled precision strike with an accuracy of 2 metres.
Weighing around 9 kg, the fixed-wing electric unmanned Ariel vehicle (UAV) has an endurance of 30 minutes, a man-in-loop range of 15 km and an autonomous mode range of 30 km.
It can apparently carry a 1 kg warhead up to a range of 15 km and an upgraded version can carry a 2.2 kg warhead up to 30 km distance.
(Except for the headline, this story, from a syndicated feed, has not been edited by Odishatv.in staff)