Including outlying territories, India’s coast line stretches for more than 7,500 km. Asymmetric challengers (such as the Mumbai attackers) have already exploited the gaps in this lengthy maritime border. India has obviously recognized the value unmanned ISR platforms can provide to patrolling their coast along with vast areas of the Indian Ocean and is establishing a new UAV squadron. The next stage of development to watch for will be the weaponization of these platforms. They might be moving in that direction on the shipboard VTOL side with the unmanned version of the Dhruv helicopter.
So now India’s navy has two UAV squadrons. The USAF has at least 15. The USMC has three. Can anyone tell me why the US Navy doesn't even have one? Isn’t it time to institutionalize this important capability rather than scattering it across a variety of different RTD&E efforts?
The opinions and views expressed in this post are those of the author alone and are presented in his personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Department of Defense, the US Navy, or any other agency.
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