Heron drones, inducted by Indian forces for enhancing their surveillance capabilities, are acquired from

Q: What is the answer to CAPF 2021 Paper I Q115?

C. Correct — C, Israel. The Heron is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft built by Israel Aerospace Industries, and India has flown it since the early 2000s alongside the smaller Searcher from the same maker. Its value to the Indian forces is endurance — it can stay airborne for a day or more, well above small-arms range, carrying electro-optical and radar sensors and relaying a live picture to a ground station. In the years around this paper the fleet was reinforced by the leased Heron TP variant for surveillance along the northern borders, and by an upgrade programme to extend the reach of the existing aircraft. (Provisional — pending the official UPSC key.)

(a)USA
(b)Russia
(c)Israel
(d)Japan

Answer

Why

Correct — C, Israel. The Heron is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft built by Israel Aerospace Industries, and India has flown it since the early 2000s alongside the smaller Searcher from the same maker. Its value to the Indian forces is endurance — it can stay airborne for a day or more, well above small-arms range, carrying electro-optical and radar sensors and relaying a live picture to a ground station. In the years around this paper the fleet was reinforced by the leased Heron TP variant for surveillance along the northern borders, and by an upgrade programme to extend the reach of the existing aircraft.

Why the others are wrong

(a)USA — American unmanned aircraft entered Indian service later. The Navy leased Sea Guardians from 2020 and a large purchase of the MQ-9B was concluded only in 2024, well after this exam.
(b)Russia — Russia has supplied a great deal of Indian equipment — aircraft, tanks, submarines, air defence — but not the Heron, which is an Israeli design.
(d)Japan — Defence trade with Japan has centred on talks over the US-2 amphibious aircraft and on exercises and technology cooperation, not on unmanned surveillance aircraft.

Concept

Unmanned aircraft are graded by altitude and endurance. A medium-altitude long-endurance platform such as the Heron is built to loiter for many hours over a fixed area and to feed continuous imagery back to a commander, which suits border surveillance far better than a fast jet does. Israel became a major supplier to India in this segment from the late 1990s, and Indo-Israeli defence trade has since widened to radar, missiles and airborne early warning.

The item asks only where the platform comes from, and the name itself is the clue for anyone who has followed defence acquisitions — Heron and Searcher are both IAI products. Since 2021 the picture has changed: India has committed to a large purchase of American armed unmanned aircraft, and domestic development has moved ahead as well, so a similar question set today would not have the same single answer.

Key facts

The Heron is made by Israel Aerospace Industries and is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft.
India has also operated the IAI Searcher in the tactical role.
Heron TP aircraft were taken on lease for surveillance along the northern borders around 2020-21.
Israel is among India's largest defence suppliers, with radar, missiles and airborne early warning systems in the same relationship.
The MQ-9B purchase from the United States was concluded in 2024, three years after this exam.

An IAI Heron unmanned aircraft on static display: a slender high-aspect-ratio wing, bulbous nose radome, twin tail booms and a rear pusher propeller, standing behind crowd barriers at an airshow — The IAI Heron, a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aircraft built by Israel Aerospace Industries.Image: Bidgee · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 AU)

Study next

Classes of unmanned aircraft and what each is used forIndia's major defence suppliers and recent acquisitionsIndo-Israeli defence cooperationIndigenous programmes — Rustom, TAPAS and ArcherDrone rules and civil applications of unmanned aircraft in India

Common traps

Assuming any surveillance drone in Indian service must be American.
Confusing the leased Heron TP with the MQ-9B, which came later and from a different country.

A single-fact acquisition item that dates quickly, which is exactly why defence current affairs need a year attached.

Related PYQs

UPSC_2020_GS1_Q422020Open & attempt →

Consider the following activities: 1. Spraying pesticides on a crop field 2. Inspecting the craters of active volcanoes 3. Collecting breath samples from spouting whales for DNA analysis At the present level of technology, which of the above activities can be successfully carried out by using drones?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer(d) 1, 2 and 3

The civil half of the same technology. That item is about what unmanned aircraft can already do in farming and field science; this one is about where the military version of the same platform is bought from.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Searcher and Heron unmanned aircraft in Indian service are built by
- (a)Israel Aerospace Industries
- (b)General Atomics
- (c)Baykar
- (d)Dassault Aviation
Answer(a) Israel Aerospace Industries — both platforms come from the same Israeli maker.
practice — not a real PYQ
What does the abbreviation MALE denote in the description of an unmanned aircraft?
- (a)Multi-Axis Launch Equipment
- (b)Medium Altitude Long Endurance
- (c)Manned Airborne Logistics Escort
- (d)Modular Armed Light Equipment
Answer(b) Medium Altitude Long Endurance — the class built to loiter for many hours over an area.