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A Navy Drishti-10 Starliner unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed near the Porbandar airfield in Gujarat during a routine training sortie on Wednesday, marking the second accident involving the Hermes-900-based platform connected to the Navy’s procurement programme in about 18 months.
The drone had taken off from the Naval Air Enclave at Porbandar before going down in an open field near Dharampur village, around 6 km from the coastal city. No injuries or damage to civilian property were reported.
“The Indian Navy confirms the crash of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle Drishti-10 off Porbandar airfield during a training sortie this afternoon. No injury or loss of life has been reported on the ground. The cause of the incident is being investigated,” the Navy said in a statement.
A Board of Inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the crash, including whether it resulted from a technical malfunction, a loss of the communication link, or any other system failure.
The Drishti-10 is the Indian version of Israel’s battle-proven Hermes-900 medium-altitude long-endurance UAV. It is licence-manufactured by Adani Defence and Aerospace at its Hyderabad facility, in partnership with Israel’s Elbit Systems.
The Army and the Navy had ordered two Drishti-10 drones each under the fourth tranche of the Centre’s emergency procurement programme in 2023, with each platform costing around Rs 140 crore.
The Hermes-900 is among the world’s more widely exported medium-altitude long-endurance UAVs and, besides India and Israel, is operated by countries including Iceland, Switzerland and Brazil for border security and maritime surveillance missions. During the recent Israel-Iran conflict in April, the platform also figured in combat reports after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed to have intercepted and shot down an Israeli Hermes-900 over the southern province of Fars. While the wartime claim relates to combat operations and bears no connection to Wednesday’s training accident in India, it underscored the platform’s operational deployment in high-intensity conflict.
This is the second accident involving a Drishti-10 linked to the Navy’s operations in Porbandar. In January last year, another aircraft being flown by the manufacturer during pre-acceptance trials crashed into the Arabian Sea after reportedly losing its communication link before it had been formally accepted into naval service. The vendor subsequently replaced the aircraft.
While the circumstances of the two accidents are different, one occurring before induction and the other involving an aircraft already in service, the back-to-back mishaps are likely to invite closer scrutiny of the platform’s operational performance.
The development assumes significance as the Navy is pursuing a proposal to induct 10 more Drishti-10 drones to strengthen persistent maritime surveillance across the Indian Ocean Region, where the presence of Chinese naval and research vessels has steadily increased, defence sources said.
Designed for long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, the Drishti-10 can remain airborne for up to 36 hours, carry a payload of 450 kg and operate at altitudes of 30,000 feet.
The Navy operates the drones from Porbandar to enhance maritime domain awareness over the Arabian Sea, complementing its fleet of P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The Army deploys the same platform from Bathinda for surveillance along the western frontier with Pakistan.
Separately, the Navy currently operates two leased MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones from the United States and is scheduled to receive 15 of the 31 MQ-9B High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) armed drones contracted from the US in 2024.
Team BharatShakti
