CRPF plans to acquire UAVs with capacity to strike and surveillance

The draft, issued on November 5, has been sent to original equipment manufacturers and vendors for information by November 25. (File Photo)

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is planning to acquire kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are capable of striking targets up to 15 km away while livestreaming video of the ground beneath.

The Directorate General of CRPF has circulated draft qualitative requirements and trial directives for what it calls OFC+RF-based FPV kamikaze drones — first-person-view UAVs — that fly to a designated objective carrying a high-explosive warhead, transmit surveillance imagery back to the operator, and then destroy themselves on impact.

The draft, issued on November 5, has been sent to original equipment manufacturers and vendors for information by November 25. The CRPF has asked the firms to submit product specifications against each parameter, and vendors must furnish an authorisation certificate from the manufacturer they represent.

In its requirement note, the CRPF said the drone must be small and light – not more than 7 kg including spool, battery and warhead – with capability to land vertically within a 5X5 metre box. “It must fly at 150 kmph or more with full payload, operate in winds of 35 km/h or more during take-off, flight and landing, and stay airborne for a minimum of 30 minutes at 1,000 metres AMSL [above mean sea level] without the warhead and spool, or 20 minutes with them, with endurance falling by a tenth for every additional 1,000 metres of altitude,” the note said.