New Delhi: The CRPF is purchasing more than a dozen defence manufactured UAVs and a number of mine protected troop carriers to aid and guide ground patrols of the force conducting anti-Naxal operations. The country’s largest paramilitary, thick in action against the Maoists, has decided to make these big ticket purchases from indigenous defence establishments like the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Ordnance Factory Board. The decision to purchase from indigenous defence establishments has been made with a view to fast-track the purchases and get an early delivery of these sophisticated machines as compared to the timeline of foreign vendors and global purchases. Sources said the Central Reserve Police Force will get almost 15 ‘Nishant’ Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and more than three dozen OFB Kolkata made counter-landmine vehicles which protect troops from hidden mines. “Both the machines coming from the defence stable are aimed to get the troops a better operational preparedness in the Naxal terrain and also save our men from the deadly landmines planted clandestinely beneath the tracks in Naxal-hit areas,” a senior official said. (PTI)
