India is making significant efforts to improve its space capabilities, with a focus on developing its small satellite (SmSats) sector to address performance limitations and meet crucial military needs—such as Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR). To strengthen its defence communication infrastructure—both territorial and space-based—India is turning to such platforms as HighAltitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS) as a cost-effective and versatile solution that can offer extended, high-resolution coverage of specific areas. India can use HAPS to provide 24x7 surveillance of its borders and the Indian Ocean region (IOR).
To this end, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and startup NewSpace Research and Technologies Private Limited (NRT) have joined forces to develop an enormous solar-powered unmanned aircraft that can remain airborne in the stratosphere for several months.
The High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is a cutting-edge, solar-powered platform with a wingspan exceeding 50 metres. It belongs to a novel category of unmanned aircraft, developed globally for purposes ranging from persistent surveillance and specialized scientific missions to communication. India’s joint development partnership model to enter the untapped stratospheric realm for military and civilian applications will be named ‘CATS-Infinity’.
This story is from the May 2023 edition of Geopolitics.
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This story is from the May 2023 edition of Geopolitics.
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