Aero India 2023: Why DRDO's TAPAS is a gamechanger
By Anish Kumar | First Published Feb 16, 2023, 3:20 PM ISTTAPAS has a self-protection suite. It can protect our aircraft as well. The UAV's sensors are very powerful. It is agile and has extreme manoeuvrability capability.
Drones have taken centre stage during this edition of Aero India in Bengaluru, with the Defence Research and Development Organisation-developed TAPAS-BH garnering attention at the Yelahanka air base.
Learning lessons from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and amidst China and Pakistan engaging in joint production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), India, too, has been focusing on procuring drones. In recent months, Pakistan has, on numerous occasions, attempted to sneak drones carrying arms, ammunition and drugs into Indian territory.
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Asianet Newsable spoke to Director General-Electronics and Communication Systems (ECS) at the DRDO, BK Das, during the ongoing Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru to learn about the TAPAS-BH UAV in detail and how it is different from its competitors.
Das said, "TAPAS is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which is developed by our lab ADE in collaboration with various laboratories especially the DEL which was given the entire data link for this. The Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) develops the electro-optics; Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) develops the radars; and Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL) develops the EWS systems. This is basically an unmanned system, and it does not require a pilot and can fly across different places with a very high altitude and velocity."
"It has command and control over its complete electronics. So what it exactly does is it flies in the areas where we really reconnaissance and get high-definition videos. Synthetic aperture radar will be able to track all the objects around, and it can do radar imagery from grounds," he added.
“The EWS system works on the concept of jamming. Any radiation, which has the potential to cause problems to it, it would jam the radiation. It has a self-protection suite. It can protect our own aircraft as well. TAPAS sensors are very powerful. It is agile and has got manoeuvrability capability. You can get a nice data link to get uninterrupted videos for your purposes. Many countries have shown interest in it. Negotiations are underway. I would not name any country," Das further said.
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