The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Sunday inducted new 4 strike-capable Heron Mark 2 drones at a ahead air base within the northern sector in a serious enhance to the nation’s defence sector. According to the commanding officer of the drone squadron Wing Commander Pankaj Rana, the drones can perform surveillance from throughout the nation in a single sortie itself, reported information company ANI.

“The Heron Mark 2 is a really succesful drone. This is able to longer endurance and has ‘beyond line of sight’ functionality,” he told ANI.

All about the Heron Mark 2 drones:

1. The four new Heron Mark-2 drones can be equipped with long-range missiles and other weapons systems.
2. The drones have a satellite communication capability with a long-desired capability to the IAF, as they can operate at very long distances for close to 36 hours at a stretch. The drones can also laser illuminate enemy targets from very long ranges to help fighter aircraft destroy them using their long-range weapons, reported ANI.
3. The Heron Mark 2 drones, which can provide 24×7 surveillance of targets, have a longer endurance while will ensure that multiple missions can be flown and multiple sectors can be addressed in one mission itself.
4. The drones can also operate in any weather and on any terrain.
5. According to defence officials, the drones are capable of being equipped with different types of weapons as the original equipment manufacturers can equip them with air-to-ground missiles, air-to-ground anti-tank weapons, and bombs.

Meanwhile, the IAF can be inducting 31 Predator drones that are within the excessive altitude, lengthy endurance class, and can assist the Indian Navy to cowl massive tracts of the Indian Ocean area. While 15 of those drones shall be operated by the Indian Navy, the opposite two forces – Indian Army and IAF – will get eight drones every.

(With inputs from ANI)