Form of words:
New Delhi: With Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) becoming an important component of modern warfare, the Indian Air Force is set to issue Request for Proposal (RFP) to five domestic start-ups for Swarm drones, which provide both kinetic power and load. Carrying capacity, ThePrint has learned.
According to sources in the Defense and Security Establishment, the RFP will be issued for two sets of Swarm drones, which will cost around Rs 100 crore in total, and will involve a lot of “handholding”.
This means that the selected firm or firms will get assistance from select Base Repair Depots, which have technical expertise and carry out major repairs and overhauls of IAF aircraft and other equipment. They will also get weapons procured from Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
Five companies that will be in the fray—NewSpace Research and Technologies, Veda Defense Systems Pvt Ltd, Rapay Mfibre Pvt Ltd, Dhaksha Unmanned Systems Pvt Ltd and Flair Unmanned Systems Pvt Ltd—were also top participants of the IAF’s Mehr Baba Jhund drones. The competition, which began in 2018.
Named after veteran Air Commodore Meher Singh, affectionately called ‘Baba’ Mehr Singh by his colleagues and admirers in the Indian Air Force, participants competed to form a swarm of 50 drones in a two-year-long competition.
Two of the top five participants also recently win the contract From military to swarm drones.
Sources mentioned that the firms will be given all possible help from the IAF to develop more complex systems and take the Swarm drone capability to a much higher level than now.
“Flock drones operate in numerical strength. The more there are, the better. Larger swarms can themselves be divided into several smaller swarms, each equipped for a specific target. There are a ton of possibilities with drones. The world is something that one is still understanding,” said a source.
Read also: India, US sign agreement for cooperation in development of air-launched unmanned vehicle
Swarm Drone History of India
Explaining the origin of Jhund drones in India, sources said that in 2018, when the IAF launched the Mehr Baba Jhund drone competition, they had received 154 applicants from across the country.
Of these, 54 were selected in the first round and 20 were selected in the second round.
Sources said the 20 people who were selected were asked to show 10 drones with a range of 10 km and 10 medical drops in Pokhran, and were reimbursed Rs 25 lakh each by the Indian Air Force.
The top five of them were given the task of demonstrating a range of 50 kilometers with 20 drones and 20 medical or emergency aid droplets in GPS-deprived, rogue drone and drone anti-jamming environments.
All the top five companies in the competition were start-ups and they outpaced the top defense companies.
The IAF eventually gave Rs 2.5 crore to each contestant in the final round, sources said, adding that the entire process lasted two years.
He noted that given the success of the competition, a plan was put in place for a possible joint purchase. However, the plan did not go ahead as the requirements for each service were different.
In December 2020, the IAF had put out pictures of its Swarm drone capability, noting that their procurement process was on.
Read also: Army orders over 100 Indo-Israeli kamikaze drones between active LAC and uncertain Line of Control
subscribe our channel youtube And Wire
Why is the news media in crisis and how can you fix it?
India needs free, unbiased, non-hyphenated and questionable journalism even more as it is facing many crises.
But the news media itself is in trouble. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism are shrinking, yielding to raw prime-time spectacle.
ThePrint has the best young journalists, columnists and editors to work for it. Smart and thinking people like you will have to pay a price to maintain this quality of journalism. Whether you live in India or abroad, you can Here.