business

Updated: Jun 19, 2015 23:43 IST

French drone-maker LH Aviation on Friday signed an MoU with Indian OIS Advanced Technologies for the manufacturing of tactical drones in India, at the ongoing Paris Air Show. The companies will collaborate for setting up a manufacturing plant through an industrial licence. This will allow a hundred drones intended for the Indian market to be produced locally.

The LH-D is a multi-sensor tactical UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) with automatic take-off and landing capabilities. UAVs are generally used for military or non-military securitymissions.

The drone is a new kind of product, which can also be reconfigured as a manned controlled version or a conventional aircraft called OPV (optionally piloted vehicle), LH Aviation CEO Sebastien Lefebvre told HT.

Declining to comment on financial details of the deal, Lefebvre said the cost per UAV is generally about 4 million euros, including the global system, which includes transfer of technology, consumables and services.

The MoU has been signed for drones with a payload of 280 kg with an autonomy of 24 hours. These drones run at a speed of 61-185 knots and can be deployed quickly as they have removable wings. They can also be sent into any field of operation and be ready in less than one hour.

The operating cost of the drone is below 80 euros per hour of flight.

“Our relationship with LH Aviation has enabled us to bring a flexible, advanced technology medium-altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV platform, which can be customised for Indian requirements,” OIS-AT chairman Sanjay Bhandari said.