DFI, Army Design Bureau team up to accelerate drone tech development for Indian Army

The Drone Federation of India (DFI) and the Indian Army, represented by the Army Design Bureau (ADB), has signed an MoU for accelerating drone technology development and indigenisation in the drone ecosystem. The Indian Army has been a heavy user of drones in the past, and this new collaboration will further fuel the adoption of drone technology. Earlier Business Today had reported that at the Drone Festival organised in New Delhi in May this year, many officials of the Indian armed forces [of different forces] were found enquiring about the new technologies that they can evaluate and deploy.

“This collaboration will help in providing a focused approach towards upgrading Indian drone manufacturing capabilities for meeting defence requirements. It will also enable companies to leverage the expertise on the subject within the Indian Army. We look forward to working together,” said Major General C. S. Mann, VSM, Additional Director General, Army Design Bureau.

DFI and ADB have established a holistic collaboration on roadmap planning, research, testing, manufacturing and adoption of drone, counter drone and associated technologies that are to be utilised by the Indian Army in its operations. As a first step of this collaboration, “Indian Army’s Him- Drone-a-thon” is being launched, under which, proposals for development of drone based solutions for supporting Indian Army operations in the harsh himalayan terrains will be invited. The ADB will provide mentoring and enable field visits to selected participants in order to give Indian industry an exposure of the real-life operational scenarios.

“Indian drone start-ups have started delivering specialised products that meet the Indian Army’s frontline requirements. This collaboration between DFI and ADB will establish new drone use cases and develop high impact drone solutions for the Indian army soldiers via an active industry-academia-user engagement,” said Smit Shah, President, DFI.

The DFI estimates the industry to touch Rs 50,000 crore in the next five years. Agriculture, real estate, homeland security and defence will be the few areas that will be the biggest drivers for the industry, strategic defence procurements are not part of this estimate. That said, if the potential of drone delivery and drone taxis is unlocked quickly, the market will expand 10X.

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