Protection against Terror: India's First 'Heli-Teli'

Bangalore: After the several terror attacks over the major cities, Indian Air Force has come up with a new project named ‘Heli-Teli’ which will scan the entire project established area. The first run of the ‘Heli-Teli’ project will be on Delhi and Mumbai, the most attacked centres of India.

The Heli-Teli project was shaped using two Russian-origin Mi-17 1V helicopters which later outfitted with an advanced FLIR (forward-looking infrared) imaging systems and CCD (charge-coupled device). If any sudden attacks or unexpected incidents happen, the installed CCD sensors will help to access “live streaming video footage.”  This will assist the ground forces to take further action.  The new project is praised to save India’s political and economical capitals from the fear of terror attacks.

"They are basically meant for reconnaissance and surveillance duties during crisis situations... like what happened during the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai or the Parliament attack in Delhi before that,'' said a source to TNN reporters.

 "The aim, as with our radar systems that are geared towards aerial threats, is to reduce the reaction time or shorten the sensor-to-shooter loop,'' he said. Hopefully the live footage from the Heli-Teli will aid the forces to take a quick action on the incident.

Though this concept is not new, it is new for Indian forces. Heli-Teli concept is used for aerial guards, traffic and crowd control, tracking the vehicles on road and such like that. Unfortunately, Indian police forces are not yet operational with such kind of technological developments.  This new venture will be reportedly marking a new avatar to Indian forces.

This new project by IAF will gear our forces to tackle terror and urban battles overtaking the disadvantages of conventional laws and order duties. Soon after the installation of Heli-Teli over Delhi and Mumbai, this project will be extended to other major cities in near future. To bring down the cost price, IAF is experimenting for advancement of the same project on its smaller helicopters Cheetah and Chetak by acquiring more imaging systems and sensors, TNN report says.

IAF is already operational with the 80 new Russian-made Mi-17 V5 helicopters for the combat operations. It has been ordered for $1.34billion in 2008. A 59 more Mi-17 helicopters are ordered following the earlier contract with Russia.

At the time of Commonwealth Games, Indian Air Force Unit had deployed Israeli Searcher-II UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) for the close watch over New Delhi. For the occasion Delhi police personnel were gone under the training for inferring such incidents on the go.

The latest Heli-Teli project is considered more perfect for the role as it has functioned with newest FLIR-CCD sensors and thermal imagers. India has seemingly taken action to reinforce its defense networks after the series of bomb blasting over its major cities. The first round of the action will be occurring over several cities.