NEW DELHI: The Army has brought its Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into the mission going on to locate the Indian Air Force transport aircraft AN-32 missing since June 3.
“In addition to Mi17, SU-30, ALH and C 130J, UAV from Army too have been deployed for aerial search of missing aircraft," the airforce said.
Rain and bad weather hampered the Search And Rescue operations in the morning which could only begin around 1000 hrs. Mi17s and ALH resumed SAR as the weather cleared.
“With the use of UAV the camera will be able to send better quality video and it will be live streamed back to the ground control station. Also, the UAVs can fly for a longer duration over the area being searched." told an Army officer on the condition of anonymity.
The extensive day and night SAR mission is underway to locate the transport aircraft AN-32 of Air Force, which went missing on 03 Jun 19. The area of search and combing involves Along, Payum and Tato in Arunachal Pradesh.
The military assets deployed in the mission are two Mi-17, two ALH, including one from Army, C130J and SU 30 fighter with powerful radar.
In addition to the ground party of Army, ITBP, local police and other state agencies are also continuing with the rescue.
The aircraft got airborne from Jorhat Airfield for Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground. Once the aircraft did not report at the destination, overdue actions were initiated.
The families of all air-warriors on board the aircraft have been informed and are being regularly updated on the progress of the search for the missing aircraft