From a Blog Late last year the Border Security Force (BSF) sought an unspecified number of additional helicopters from the MHA in aid of its new role of guarding the 1643 km long border with Myanmar - a role it is taking over from the Assam Rifles. The border with Myanmar is characterized in the main by forested mountains and the BSF will be setting up a number of air-maintained border outposts in addition to ones already present on the ground. These air-maintained outposts are likely to prove crucial to the effective operation of some 50000 personnel, the BSF is planning to deploy on this border where road connectivity is virtually non-existent at many spots. These additional helicopters are likely to be Mi-17Vs, eight of which are already on order for the BSF with the first two from that batch expected to be delivered by September this year. The Mi-17V is a step up from the Mi-17IV, eleven of which are currently part of the BSFs air wing (although some are actually owned by the Indian Air force) in that it possesses a new KNEI-8 a navigation system, multifunctional displays, next generation night vision goggles (NVGs), helmet mounted cueing system and a state-of-the art autopilot, all of which are expected to enable smoother day/night operations. The Mi-17Vs avionics suite also includes a weather radar that proved extremely useful in the recent rescue operations conducted by the IAF in Uttarakhand last year. Incidentally the first two Mi-17Vs will be pressed into action in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) for general duties, CASEVAC and Search and Rescue (SAR) roles. However, owing to their size, Mi-17s sometimes cannot enter hot zones during times of inclement weather. For instance, during an encounter in 2012 between Central forces and Maoists in Jharkhand, a MI-17IV sent for CASEVAC had to turn back on account of unfavourable weather and a HAL Dhruv instead was deployed for the job. Indeed, the BSF air wing also consists of some eight HAL Dhruvs with proposals to add more being muted. It is important to note that larger numbers in the BSFs helicopter fleet have also become possible on account of an agreement it signed with the IAF a few years ago, which has allowed the former to get pilots from the latter on deputation leading to vastly improved mission capable rates. In the mid-2000s the BSF was actually finding it difficult to put even 10 percent of its fleet in the air on account of an acute shortage of pilots. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) till now dependent on the BSF and IAF for air support is keen to get its own dedicated air wing and is probably going to induct a couple of hired HAL Dhruvs to begin with. The HAL Dhruv owing to past experiences such as the issues mentioned above has been deemed more suitable for the CRPF. Moreover, the HAL Dhruv is clearly better suited for quick response insertions in LWE affected areas. The CRPFs future Dhruv park as it were, may end up resembling the Indian Armys (IAs ) Soaring Gideons unit which operates HAL Dhruvs in support of special operations against terrorists in the valley. In the CRPFs case such a unit will of course carry COBRA commandos. Like in the case of the Soaring Gideons, intelligence for operations by a future CRPF aviation unit could come from the latters own unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wing. Tired of tasking battles with the National Technical Reconnaissance Office (NTRO), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has bitten the bullet on the Nishant UAV which is already in service with the IA and some 16 units of a customized version are set to find pride of place in its inventory. Given the terrain in which the CRPF variant will be operated, DRDO labs have worked together to reduce the number of support vehicles for it by a third. Importantly, the CRPF version will fly with an indigenously developed wankel rotary engine with a rating of 55 HP replacing its current ALVIS AR-801 engine. This engine developed by DRDOs Vehicle Research and Development Establishment is already under production at a private facility operated by SMC in Hyderabad with eight sets scheduled to be delivered soon. The MHA has also given the CRPF the go-ahead to acquire 10 Skylark Mini-UAVs from HAL in principle; however the final contract is pending on account of price negotiations.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 13:34:15 +0000
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