India's navy has operational requirements for additional unmanned air vehicles made by Israel Aerospace Industries, sources say, with these to potentially include improved Heron or Heron-TP systems carrying maritime sensor payloads. Evaluations using some systems have already been carried out, they add.
The Indian navy in January stood up its second UAV squadron, with its current IAI-produced Heron and Searcher II systems facing increased operational demand. This has led to indications within recent weeks that additional contracts could be placed with IAI, the sources say.
In addition to having already provided UAVs to the Indian navy, IAI is also equipping the service with additional equipment, such as the Barak-8 air defence missile.
