+ghostrider883 526 Posted March 20, 2010 India to induct smart 'suicide bomber' drone It's an aircraft described by experts as a "flying suicide bomber", except there is no pilot involved. It carries no weapons - instead, the aircraft itself is the weapon. It is built to creep into enemy airspace, " loiter" for as long as necessary hunting for targets, and then dive to decimate the chosen one. It is widely considered as one of the smartest airborne strike systems yet built. This year, the Indian Air Force will begin receiving a batch of 10 such systems, built by Israel and called the HAROP. At a little over $ 10- million (about Rs 45 crore) apiece, HAROPs are essentially drones with one- way tickets. The Indian Army - which has followed the air force's example and initiated procedures to acquire its own loitering munitions - has a classified scenario that is likely to be war- gamed jointly with the air force once the HAROPs are inducted. The scenario ties in with the post- 26/ 11 rhetoric of surgical strikes across enemy lines, and with home minister P. Chidambaram's recent assertion that India's response to another Pakistan- supported attack would be "swift and decisive". Military analyst Lt- Gen. Shankar Prasad says, " These systems have a great deterrent value, whether there is war or not. Pakistan must not be allowed to think India is a weak nation." The air force has decided to rotate HAROP drone operations from sites in Rajasthan, Punjab and Kashmir, and may choose to buy 10 more later. Reproduced From Mail Today. Copyright 2010. MTNPL. All rights reserved. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Abhi 3 Posted March 21, 2010 chances of Israeli Delilah are high. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted March 22, 2010 That strikes me as an incredibly expensive way to go. It's $10m a shot, every time, and you have a very limited supply. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TX3RN0BILL 3 Posted March 22, 2010 Wait a minute... "suicide bomber" and "non-piloted" in the same description?! Why does that sound so wrong? According to that, the Reichenberg I to III were also "suicide bombers", "non-piloted"... Why don't they call them really expensive remote-controlled missiles and be done with it? Or do they really want to make it sound as if the terrorists were tasting their own poison - whilst that totally not being the case? Suicide bombers are cheap (the jihadists keep finding enough for their purpouses), whereas these missiles are expensive... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gr.Viper 131 Posted March 23, 2010 Nah, "suicide bomber" is just a very fashionable phrase nowadays... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
