Though unrelated, this development comes just a day after the furore overthe contents of the report filed by thechairperson of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) Shyam Saran, indicating a loss of almost 640 sq km of Indian territory in eastern Ladakh to China. It has been learnt that this proposal, which came directly from the groundformations deployed along the LAC, has been agreed upon by the army top brass. A formal communication to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will be soon made towards seeking the budget for the same and processing it further. “The issue with Searchers is that in terms of endurance and height ceiling, it is just not doing it for us. The demand for Herons has come primarily out of that reason,” said a senior officer who had recently commanded a division. In fact the situation has reached alarming proportions. It was learnt that last year, army’s Eastern Command had sent an urgent missive to its Southern Command asking for its Herons to be loaned. The Southern Command which was not utilising them all was asked to part with them following an intervention from the army headquarters. When reached, Lt. Gen (Retd) JS Bajwa, who recently retired as the Director General Infantry, “Yes, it is true that we are moving these assetseastwards. Herons are the most advanced UAVs that we have. Flying them from the plains along the Brahmaputra, a UAV like Searcher gets its operations and communications hindered by height but that is not the case with Herons.”China expert and former Research and Analysis Wing (R & AW) officer Jayadev Ranade welcomed this development, It is time our army makes the right choice for investment. Even today, to reach a location along LAC we take any where from two to ten days. A reliable UAV like Heron will be of great help.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 06:53:40 +0000
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