India, July 9 -- The Drishti-10 MALE UAV, manufactured by Adani Defence and Aerospace, crashed mid-air during a training exercise at the Porbandar air base in Gujarat on Wednesday, marking the latest setback for the indigenously developed surveillance drone. Indian Navy officially confirmed the incident by saying that there had been an accident involving the UAV while undertaking a training operation. The official statement released by the Navy also made it clear that there had been no casualties on the ground as a result of the crash and an inquiry into the matter would be conducted. This recent incident happened just about a year after another Drishti-10 crashed into the ocean off the coast of Porbandar in a pre-acceptance test on January 14, 2025, before induction into service with the Indian Navy. Also Read - WhatsApp's reply on 'username' notice due today: IT Secretary At that previous accident, during the testing process, communication between the UAV and the ground control station was lost, and the vehicle was intentionally ditched into the sea. It should be noted that there were no deaths at all from that accident, and the drone was eventually recovered. As the drone had not yet been officially accepted for service with the Navy, the UAV was still in the hands of the manufacturer when it crashed. This new accident will certainly attract attention since the Drishti-10 is a significant element of India's growing capability for indigenous long-range surveillance. Also Read - Delhi HC seeks Centre's stand on Ambassador Hotel's plea against show-cause notice for eviction Drishti-10 is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that is specially built for ISR missions over land as well as over water bodies. The UAV has an endurance of 36 hours of flight, flies at around 30,000 feet above sea level and carries payload weights of up to 450 kilograms. With electro-optical sensors and infrared sensors, maritime surveillance radar and a communication payload, the aircraft is specially developed to provide surveillance in a real-time fashion over vast expanses of operation. The Drishti-10 is made by Adani Defence & Aerospace at its Hyderabad-based plant and is the Indian variant of the Hermes 900 Starliner UAV. It is manufactured as part of an agreement between India and Israel through which the technology is provided by Israeli firm Elbit Systems. It is the first time that Hermes 900 aircraft have been assembled outside Israel through a joint venture of Adani and Elbit. For the Indian Navy, the Drishti-10 is inducted for use in increasing maritime domain awareness in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean region. Operating out of INAS 343 at Porbandar, the drone will be used for performing maritime ISR operations which include keeping an eye on commercial shipping lines, monitoring suspicious vessels, coastal surveillance operations, and EEZ surveillance operations.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.