Chhattisgarh Authorities Want to Use UAVs against Maoists: Reports
Following butchering of 76 security personnel in Dantewada district, officials in Chhattisgarh now want to utilize unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Maoist-dominated belts, said reports quoting unnamed official sources.
“A report of the successful night trial of the US-made UAV in Bastar forests this week is to be sent to the central government with a request to allow security forces to use the UAV facility,” reports quoting a police source in Raipur as saying.
Officials said that a UAV, weighting 10 kg, was even tested in forest areas close to the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College in Kanker district, said reports.
Bastar region, comprising of five districts including Bastar, has been a Maoist stronghold since the late 1980s.
“The trial for UAV was intended to evaluate its efficacy in providing real-time intelligence and detection capability during low illumination and at night in thickly forested stretches,” the police source was quoted as saying.
“It is up to the Central government to take a decision on whether security men in the jungle terrain should be equipped with UAV facility,” he was quoted as saying.
(Based on internet reports)
