Indian Army first used drones in Kargil war, says Army veteran Ramesh Chandra Padhi

Army veteran Ramesh Chandra Padhi

Major General Ramesh Chandra Padhi (retd), senior vice president at IG Drones, stated that the Indian Army first used drones during the Kargil war.

He was speaking at the Powering Bharat Summit 2025 organised by Network18 in collaboration with Moneycontrol, News18 India, and CNBC Awaaz.

“Many people think that it is Azerbaijan and Armenia that are the starting point of drones. We used drones during Kargil War, not many people know about that. But the problem at that point of time was there were no digital maps and I was entrusted with the responsibility of providing them. The satellite imagery was only two dimensions so we digitised them,” the Army veteran said.

IG Drones contributed to Operation Sindoor by supplying drones and offering key services like surveying, mapping, and reconnaissance to the Armed Forces.

Recalling the night of the operation, Padhi shared a story, “When the conflict started on 7th night, four of my boys were trapped in Poonch. They were delivering drones and I was a little worried about their safety that I rang up people and brought them back. I told them that you guys are very lucky that you could be part of that particular conflict,” he said.

Padhi recounted IG Drones’ humble beginnings, when five students from an engineering college in Odisha created a space-focused innovation that earned recognition from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann ki Baat broadcast.

“They found commercially that drone manufacturing would be good and in 2015 after I superannuated, my journey also started with them,” he said.

When asked about the cost of drones, he explained that some models are available for as little as Rs 1 lakh. “We have got a very small drone called FPV (first-person-view) Kamikaze. The speed goes up to 140 km. It costs only Rs 1 lakh. We have also got surveillance and other drones and everything is made by us only,” Padhi added further.