India’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Even though LTTE threat to Kerala turned out to a bogus one, few things came to light on Monday as far as India’s preparation to curb terrorism is concerned. It was never official that Indian Navy is using UAVs on the Indian coast. That became official as it was clear that “LTTE in Kochi” turned out to be a “false alarm” from the Navy’s UAV Nishanth.

Nishant was developed by DRDO for Indian Army. It was successfully flight tested near Kolar on 20th June 2008. The State of Art UAV is developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore jointly with DEAL, Dehradun; RDE(E), Pune and ADRDE, Agra.

Nishant is one of the few UAVs in the World in its weight class capable of being catapult launch and recovered by using parachute thus eliminating need for runway as in the case of conventional take off and landing with wheels. The tactical highlights of NISHANT include multi-mission day/night capability using advance payloads, jam resistant command link and digital down link. It is a highly mobile, compact and easily deployable system and can undertake day/night battle field reconnaissance, surveillance, target tracking and localization. It can also help in correction of artillery fire. With an endurance capacity of 4 hours and 30 minutes, it can attain maximum speed of 185 km per hour.

DRDO is also taking up a programme for development of Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV that has multi-mission capability to meet the requirements of the three Services. RUSTAM, named after Rustam Damania, who was instrumental in conceptualizing the idea, will have 300 km range with 200 kg payload. RUSTAM will be in a flying stage in about 3 years. With an endurance level of more than 24 hours, this UAV can be used by all three armed forces. RUSTAM can be useful in reconnaissance and surveillance, target acquisition and designation, communications relay and signal intelligence.

LTTE landed in Kerala coast ?

Kerala police along with bomb squad are searching for LTTE men who allegedly landed in Cherthala, Kerala. Fishermen reports they saw fishing boat in Cherthala occupied by around 15 men and all men were wearing dress similar to the LTTE uniform. Kerala police has hiked police presence in both Cherthala and the industrial city of Cochin.

Commando search happening in Cochin

Around 3 pm, Alappuzha police first received information that LTTE unit landed in Cherthala beach and are moving towards Cochin. Some reports saying LTTE landed in Arthungal beach. News in media are largely vague. Commando units are searching all vehicles crossing over into Cochin district.

5.30pm Update: Police along with commandos, coast guard, and navy are searching in various parts of Cochin, but from what news media are now reporting, it seems the information of LTTE landing in Kerala coast are vague and chances of it being true are very less.

6pm Update: According to official police report, there is no information of any LTTE boat landing in Kerala coast. All searches that are going in the state are part of a followup on a central intelligence report.

7pm Update: Kerala Home Minister says there was intelligence reports on LTTE infiltration to Kerala coast.

11pm Update: Police confirms that the fishing boat which arrived on the Arthungal coast is not of LTTE. Police have identified the owner of the boat – Mr. Benny, a native of Arthungal. Police clarifies that the boat went for fishing in the Indian territorial waters and on their return home, they shifted machinery and their ‘catch’ into the new smaller boat. As this was happening an unmanned Navy helicopter which was patrolling the coast happened to record this activity and Navy command saw it as a “suspicious transfer of material in the coastal waters”. This is said to be the trigger which lead to a massive search and combing operation in the southern districts of Kerala.

Aptera – the most aerodynamic car

“If a plane looked like an SUV, it wouldn’t take off. Dolphins don’t look like SUVS for a reason. Cars need to look like dolphins, not SUVs. The Aptera is the most aerodynamically efficient vehicle ever, an average car traveling at 55 mph uses half of its energy just to push air out of the way” – Bill Gross, founder and board member of Aptera

men and women

1. Men, unlike women, hate going to toilet with another; Women can make friends there

2. Men flick through TV Channels; Women wanna see the program in detail

3. Men hate TV advertisements; Women dont mind watching it

4. Men like alchohol; Women like chocolates

5. Men fight; Women shop

6. Men likes sex more than love; for Women, love = sex

7. Men dont understand the word INSENSITIVE; Women criticise with that word

8. Men should never drive in night when travelling with a woman; Women should never drive in day when travelling with a man

9. Men dont ask directions; Women dont understand maps

10. Women have more intuition than men; thats why all witches are women..lol

11. Men are risk takers; but they are bad at lying

12. Men dont like monogamy; it is the threshold for women

13. Men dont understand nonverbal signals; Women have an internal radar for it

14. Men stare at the obvious; Women are good at reading btwn lines

15. Men can sleep through any noise internal to their home; but are alive to any noise from outside sources.

16. Men suck at conversation compared to Women; all they think about is SEX

17. Men can understand bitter/salt taste quickly; Women can recognise sweet/sugary taste quickly

18. Women rule left-handedness; Men are inclined more to right hand prowess

19. Men are good at maths; Women are good at english/languages

20. Men will never understand why women say “DONT LEAVE THE SEAT UP !”

Napier Test

Indian batsmen – Gambhir and Dravid – gritted through the morning session of the 4th day giving little hope to the flagged Indian dressing room. Both batsmen were lucky as few close ooss-and-aaahs went in their favor. Gambhir survived 2 close LBW decisions while Dravid escaped a sure RUNOUT oppurtunity. India were 119/1 at lunch break. New Zealand’s over rate were most tremendous as they skitted through 35 overs in the session – a rare act.

The story of the second session. One can say it is unfortunate that umpire thought Dravid was OUT, but that can now really threaten India’s chance to save this match. One more wicket will now turn the match all in NZ’s favor. India is 180/2 at Tea with Gambhir 83* and Tendulkar 9*. NZ firm in command.

Finally, India won a day in this test match. They upgraded their play, timely, to see off the threat pose by NZ. India started the day facing an inning defeat and ended the day with a good hope of ending the test match on even note. Gambhir who scored his fifth Hundred played to the situation. PATIENCE was the definition of his inning. At the same time, Tendulkar looks in ominous touch. He looks set for his 43rd Ton tomorrow. Barring a dramatic collapse, this test is poised to end in a draw.