Drone companies get set for army operations in harsh Himalayan terrains

Maj Gen CS Mann, VSM, Additional Director General, Army Design Bureau (R) signing an MoU with Smit Shah, president of Drone Federation of India (DFI) (L) on August 8 in New Delhi

The Drone Federation of India (DFI) will help the army adopt drone, counter-drone and associated technologies apart from working towards indigenisation of the drone ecosystem.

A memorandum of understanding was signed on August 8 for collaborating on manufacturing, research and testing of drones by the army.

Under this programme, the army will invite proposals for development of drone-based solutions for supporting operations in harsh Himalayan terrains.

The Army Design Bureau (ADB) will mentor drone companies and enable field visits for selected participants, DFI said.

Smit Shah, president of DFI, said, “Indian drone startups have started delivering specialised products that meet frontline requirements.

This development comes at a time when the Indian government is working towards streamlining procurement of drone services across the country.

Recently Moneycontrol reported that the Centre is working on a set of guidelines for procuring drone services for projects and initiatives after states complained that companies were not forthcoming in sharing information on costs.

The Indian government is also separately working on introducing service-linked incentives for the drone industry. If realised, this could give further boost to the drone-as-a-service industry which recently was touted to become a Rs 30,000 crore sector over three years by civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.