India Debuts Muntra, the Unmanned Tank

Strengthening unmanned capability, India’s state-owned DRDO has introduced the country’s first unmanned tank fully developed in India. The tank, Muntra, has three variants: S for unmanned surveillance mission, M for mine detection and N for nuclear radiation or bio-weapon risk.

New Delhi (Sputnik) –  The unmanned tank has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)’s Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) which converts amphibious BMP class of vehicles into tele-operated and autonomous vehicles. “It has a very diverse range of technologies and systems incorporated in it, including electro-optics, sensor fusion, electro-mechanical actuators and communication systems,” DRDO said. The system has dynamic power management to ensure optimum use of available power and software design to facilitate interoperability between different systems.

CVRDE has used indigenously developed GIS in the Muntra for planning missions and for recording the details of the paths traversed. It has also equipped system with various failsafe mechanisms to ensure safe and error free operations in conflict zone.

Tanks equipped with thermal imaging day-night sights can track a variety of targets up to 18 kilometers with the help of its laser rangefinder. The system can operate from a distance through tele-operation which enables the base vehicle operator to navigate the vehicle with the help of opto-electronic sensors mounted on it. The system has covered field trials of more than 2500 km in desert terrain having temperature more than 52 degree Celsius.