Unmanned Systems Seminar Attracts Indian Military Top Brass on 25-26 November

NEW DELHI - Nov. 3, 2013 - PRLog -- The third edition of Unmanned Vehicles (UV) India seminar-cum-exhibition will be inaugurated by Air Marshal SS Soman, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Air Command on 25 November at the Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi.

The inaugural address will be delivered by Dr Avinash Chander, Director General of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister.

Other eminent speakers slated to speak at the seminar are Lt Gen AV Subramanian, Director General Weapons & Equipment, Army HQ, Lt Gen VK Saxena, Director General Army Air Defence Corps and Maj Gen Vishwambhar Singh, Director General Combat Engineers, E-in-C’s Branch, Army HQ. In all, 22 top speakers have confirmed their participation.

Other top scientists from the DRDO scheduled to speak are Dr V Bhujanga Rao, Distinguished Scientist & Director General R&D (Naval Systems), P Srikumar Outstanding Scientist and Director, Aeronautical Development Establishment and Dr S Guruprasad, Director Research & Development Establishment (Engineers).

Leading international companies have booked space at the event - among them are Elbit Systems, Israel and Insitu Pacific, Australia. Domestic companies are also participating in a big way, hoping to cash in on the large numbers of orders expected to be generated by the Indian Army for UAVs. More than a dozen domestic private-sec­tor players are eyeing the mini-UAV market, while the DRDO concentrates on devel­oping high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) and combat UAVs.

The Army has floated a tender to acquire 49 UAVs to be used for real-time in­telligence and surveillance, to detect human or vehicular movement, target recognition and identification, and electronic intelli­gence and communication intelligence. The tender has been sent to private Indian companies Idea Forge, Dynamatrics, Hi­tech Robotics, Ufcon, Omnipresent Tech­nologies, Datapattern, Tata Advance Sys­tems and state-owned Bharat Electronics.

The Army and Air Force have an immedi­ate requirement for more than 700 mini UAVs.

According to Maj Gen Ravi Arora, CEO of IMR Media (imrmedia.in), publishers of Indian Military Review and Indian Defence Yearbook, UV India has been a successful event. Organised in collaboration with the Centre for Air Power Studes, the two day event will see 350 serving officers of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Focrce, paramilitary, National Security Guard, Coast Guard, government ministries and industry congregate to exchange information and ideas.