Indian Army keen to procure Pitbull RCWS

Israel's General Robotics said that the Indian Army and the Indian Navy are willing to procure its Pitbull remote-controlled weapon station (pictured above mounted on a Roboteam UGV). (General Robotics)

The Indian Army has shown interest in procuring Israel-based General Robotics' Pitbull remote-controlled weapon station (RCWS), the company confirmed with Janes .

Shahar Gal, the CEO of General Robotics, told Janes that the Indian Army and the Indian Navy are “willing to procure the company's Pitbull RCWS”. Gal added that the company is analysing production opportunities under Make in India (MII) provisions.

Pitbull is an ultra-lightweight RCWS designed for armoured vehicles and unmanned platforms and can be controlled from within the vehicle or from a remote location. Pitbull weighs around 85 kg without weapons and ammunition.

The system can be equipped with either a 5.56 mm, a 7.62 mm, or a 12.7 mm machine gun. The system weighs around 110 kg when fitted with an M240 machine gun with ammunition and 150 kg when equipped with an M2 machine gun with 200 rounds of ammunition.

The RCWS utilises artificial intelligence (AI), enabling it to autonomously detect, track, and estimate the predicted positions of threats using its Target Prediction Algorithm (TPA). The system can also determine the optimum time to engage a target, increasing its efficiency and accuracy, the company said.

Pitbull integrates a drone jammer that blocks several frequencies simultaneously to disrupt the drones, command, and Global Positioning System (GPS) signals.

Gal earlier told Janes that the Pitbull RCWS could detect small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) at ranges of up to 1 km, although it has been designed to integrate radars that can detect threats at up to 5 km.