Kanker (Chhattisgarh), April 15: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, used by US forces to track down Taliban militants, successfully flew over over the dense forests of Bastar in the first trial run for anti-naxal operations.
The trials, which assumed urgency after the Dantewada massacre in which 76 security personnel were killed by Maoists, were aimed at generating real-time intelligence information to help ground forces in any offensive. The first trial involved an American UAV.
The decision to have UAV flights was taken by the Union Home Ministry after the April six attack and their field trials were ordered immediately.
An UAV of US’ Honeywell, whose pilotless planes are reportedly used successfully by allied forces in the hunt for targets in war-hit Afghanistan and Iraq, flew during the night trial.
–Agencies