Drone to monitor maritime boundary line between India and Sri Lanka

India’s Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) has developed a drone to monitor the international maritime boundary line (IMLB) between India and Sri Lanka that is being frequently violated by the fishermen and smugglers from both countries, a report in Business Standard says.

The DRDO has developed the Rustom-1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and is working with the Indian navy to fit the drone with an Automatic Identification System (AIS) that will identify Indian fishing vessels along the maritime boundary.

The AIS on the Rustom-1 will transmit an “interrogator” signal that reflects back from a transponder that will be fitted on every Indian fishing boat.

If an Indian vessel strays into Sri Lankan waters, or an unidentified boat enters Indian waters, a digital data link between the UAV and a ground control station (GCS) on the Indian coast will alert the Indian navy and coast guard in real time.

Currently, the Indian Navy monitors this maritime boundary – in the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar – with Dornier-228 manned aircraft, and a squadron of Israeli-built Heron and Searcher UAVs that operate from INS Parundu, a naval air base near Ramanathapuram District, Tamil Nadu. Since these aircraft do not have AIS systems, they cannot differentiate Indian vessels from Sri Lankan, Business Standard reported.

Indian fishermen deliberately invading Sri Lanka’s waters has become a vexing issue for both countries and the Sri Lankan Navy constantly arrest the intruding fishermen to the irritation of Tamil Nadu government.

Earlier this year, Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe warned that the country’s navy has a right to shoot invaders if they poached on the livelihood of northern fishermen.

Tamil Nadu’s fishing community meanwhile reportedly demands the Indian navy and coast guard must protect them from the Sri Lankan Navy.

For that reason, the navy has welcomed the DRDO’s plan to modify the Rustom-1 for this task by fitting it with AIS, the report says.

However, one problem the Indian Navy is having is to fit AIS transponders in the tens of thousands of fishing boats that operate from Tamil Nadu.

According to a DRDO scientist it will take 6-8 months to fit the Rustom with an AIS and make it lighter and another 6 months for testing the final platform leaving the government about a year to fit AIS transponders in all fishing vessels. The initiative would otherwise serve no purpose, the scientist has said.