An Indian Navy Searcher II remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) was ditched in the Arabian sea, while operating from INS Garuda naval base in Ko...
An Indian Navy Searcher II remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) was ditched in the Arabian sea, while operating from INS Garuda naval base in Kochi, a port city on the south-west coast of India.
The Israeli Aerospace Industries built UAV on a routine training mission was control ditched at sea, 9 miles from Kochi at about 07:30 pm local time on Wednesday 27 Jul.
The aircraft had got airborne 06:35 pm but developed critical engine malfunction and a controlled ditching was undertaken at sea, Navy said.
Meanwhile a Navy mission to the crash area which had a depth of 24 m to locate and retrieve the ditched RPA failed to sight any wreckage. Later a part of the wing wreckage was later fished out by local fisherman operating from the Alappuzha coast.
The Israeli Aerospace Industries built UAV on a routine training mission was control ditched at sea, 9 miles from Kochi at about 07:30 pm local time on Wednesday 27 Jul.
The aircraft had got airborne 06:35 pm but developed critical engine malfunction and a controlled ditching was undertaken at sea, Navy said.
Meanwhile a Navy mission to the crash area which had a depth of 24 m to locate and retrieve the ditched RPA failed to sight any wreckage. Later a part of the wing wreckage was later fished out by local fisherman operating from the Alappuzha coast.
India is one of the largest operator of these surveillance RPAs, operating close to 100 of them by its Army, Air force and Navy. These are equipped sophisticated electro optic camera and communication system that can send back real time live pictures of targets.
The Searcher 2 has an endurance of 18 hours and can fly at a ceiling of 18,000 ft. It is powered by a single 47 hp German Limbach piston engine in pusher configuration.
