The strike against Zawahiri is being hailed as a vindication of the US’s ‘over-the-horizon’ strategy in eradicating terrorism without placing boots on the ground.
The confluence of technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Cloud Computing with Unmanned Ground Vehicles has created enormous opportunities for creating intelligent autonomous systems both in the commercial and defence sectors.
Kishore Kumar Khera replies: Military aviation, like any other technology-intensive field, continuously evolves. Although a classic definition of various generations of combat aircraft does not exist but based on the core capabilities, it is broadly classified.
While India is establishing a strong aviation ecosystem by bringing together all stakeholders including the government, DPSUs, tri-services, academia and industry partners, it is believed that private Indian industries will be the crusaders for the government in defence production, particularly in the UAV vertical.
With a display of 1,000 indigenously produced swarm drones during the Beating Retreat, India would become the fourth nation to achieve such a feat, making it a front row actor with a strong foothold in the field of drone technology.
The Civilian Aviation Requirements for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, though fairly well drafted, constitute only a stop gap measure for regulating drone operations in the civil sector.
How different will the USAF look after the proposed restructuring with 74 additional squadrons? Will there be a trade-off between quality and quantity?
Unmanned Aircraft System and Indian Industries
While India is establishing a strong aviation ecosystem by bringing together all stakeholders including the government, DPSUs, tri-services, academia and industry partners, it is believed that private Indian industries will be the crusaders for the government in defence production, particularly in the UAV vertical.