Hyderabad gives boost to India’s air defence

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, February 8

Hyderabad-based Grene Robotics and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) will jointly develop Autonomous MANPAD Data Link (ADML) system, a first-of-its-kind air defence solution to bolster India’s autonomous air defence capability.

The MOU was signed between Gopi Krishna Reddy, Director, Grene Robotics and Rajasekhar M V, Director (R&D) at BEL, who said: “AMDL is a state-of-the-art data link system, which exploits AI to provide a comprehensive air defence solution. We are happy to be partnering with Grene Robotics, which is a niche company working in the core areas of AI and Robotics”.

The tie-up stems from the recently concluded Aero India 2021. This technological collaboration has significance for various points of view of the C5ISRT (Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Collaboration, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting) segments and will reduce the asymmetries in controlled warfare.

This technology will be the first to be deployed on MANPADS (short-range weapon systems). MANPADS are forward-deployed Air Defence Systems widely used across the world. This addresses existing operational limitations in forward areas enabling the Command Centre to give real time firing commands to the soldier leveraging sensor-to-sight capabilities using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. 

The system has the capability to reduce fratricide, improve dispersed deployment and make MANPADS all-weather capable. The communication system enables real-time target assignment and complete engagement cycle management, which in turn improves the Observe Orient Decide and Act (OODA) loop.