Defence Business: India, U.S. To Chalk Out Roadmap For Collaboration

By siliconindia | Friday, 27 February 2015, 11:51 Hrs

To that end one of the key Pentagon objectives on this visit is to seek a commitment by Indians colleagues to "form a very small working group to develop a business plan" to qualify the requirements and capabilities of min-Raven, the unmanned aircraft system, said the U.S.official.

"This draft business plan, would not only finalise specifications for the plan but also finalise the roles of each of those stake holders," the official said.

"This is the critical next step. Our key objective specific to Cheel is to get a commitment from India's Defence Secretary to actually form this group to complete this business plan and present it....not later than their next high level meeting in August-September," the official said.

"At the moment, we do not have the requirement (Cheel), but that does not mean that we would not have in the future,” the official said when asked if U.S. would be purchasing these drones.

On the jointly agreed project "Lockheed Martin Roll On Roll off kits" for C-130 and other potential aviation platforms, the official said this is a far more complex proposal than Cheel.

The proposal includes something as low-tech as palatalisation to more complex mission sets, which includes the capabilities to monitor the environment and respond to things such as natural disasters like fires, wherein one has the capability of digital palatalise system that is equipped for fighting fires, the official said.

"Because it is a multi-faceted proposal, we are still working through all the final details. And my hope is to deliver that information in a very detailed and comprehensive presentation to Indians in April," the official said.

Source: PTI