Defence Research and Development Organization of India (DRDO) is seeking to develop a combat UGV- unmanned ground vehicle modelled on Arjun MK 1A main battle tank to reinforce the country’s foothold on the western borders. 

Citing DRDO’s Technology Focus bulletin for April, a report said that the DRDO’s Chennai-based Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment manufactured the Arjun MBT currently in service with the Indian Army, has suggested a strategy to “design, develop and validate” the new tracked combat UGV. 

The model will be equipped with a 12- mm main gun as its primary weapon, similar to the Arjun MBT. In addition, it will use an Indigenous Geographic Information System to enable the UGV pilot “Visual Perspective” of the location and operational terrain of the platform. According to the report, the combat UGV will be deployed near the Pakistan border in the western Rajasthan Desert region. 

India Today reported last year that the Indian Army is looking for an unmanned platform that can operate in high altitude regions. The interest in acquiring UGVs was considered part of improving India’s defensive capabilities. 

The army wants the model to be capable of military missions such as surveillance, reconnaissance, targeting enemy positions, delivering crucial supplies, and performing fast evacuations. The model should also operate in a variety of good conditions, including deserts, plains, hills and high-altitude environments, according to the army’s specifications. Furthermore, unmanned vehicles can be utilized for explosion detection and improvised explosive device neutralization. The army also required a robotic arm for the model to lift up to 5 kg. 

In an experiment called Strike (Surveillance, Tactical Recce, Intelligence, Kinetic Effects and Evacuation), 12 Indian companies demonstrated three such platforms to the Indian army from 9th to 13th December last year. 

In September 2017, CVRDE began developing a teleoperate BD50 Dozer based on the in-service BD50 Bulldozer in response to the demands of the army to save lives during landslides and snow removal activities. The army then conducted a trial evaluation of the UGV in mountainous terrain. Points of concern expressed during the trial are now being addressed. Other than DRDO, several private sector companies are also developing UGVs. 

‘Sooran’ and armored remote-controlled 500 kg multi-terrain, all-wheel-drive UGV with a mounted gun-turret was also introduced at Defense Expo 2020 by a Chennai-based startup. The UGV is AI-enabled and can be controlled in three ways: remotely, from a mobile control station or autonomously.  

Another Chennai-based startup developed a Mobile Autonomous Robotic System (MARS) UGV. According to the company, it can detect, identify, and dispose of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from a 1 km distance.