DFI And The Indian Army Sign A Partnership To Advance Drone Technology For Frontline Soldiers

The Drone Federation of India (DFI) and the Army Design Bureau (ADB) signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday to accelerate drone technology development and indigenisation in the country’s drone ecosystem, at a time when the world is witnessing a rapid shift from traditional warfare to technology-driven warfare.

“We are considering developing specific, purpose-built drones for the Indian Army, as well as developing drones and their components in India,” said a DFI official.

Drones play an important role on the frontlines, particularly in high-altitude areas, as troops increasingly face threats from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) dropping payloads or supplying arms and ammunition to anti-national elements from across borders.

The Indian defence machinery urgently needs to customise such UAVs to meet our forces’ high-altitude requirements.

“This collaboration will aid in the acceleration of this process.” We are also planning a visit to the forward areas by industry insiders to expose them to actual soldier operating scenarios,” the official added.

“The DFI and ADB have established a holistic collaboration on roadmap planning, research, testing, manufacturing, and adoption of drone, counter-drone, and associated technologies that will be used by the Indian Army in its operations,” DFI president Smit Shah said.

“This programme will invite proposals for the development of drone-based solutions to support Indian Army operations in the harsh Himalayan terrains,” Shah explained, adding that the ADB will mentor and facilitate field visits for selected participants to expose Indian industry to real-life operational scenarios.

The program’s details will be released soon, according to officials.

“Indian drone start-ups have begun to deliver specialised products that meet the frontline requirements of the Indian Army.” “Through active industry-academia-user engagement, DFI and ADB will establish new drone use cases and develop high impact drone solutions for the Indian Army,” Shah said.

Major General CS Mann (VSM), who is also the additional director general of ADB, acknowledged the collaboration, saying, “This collaboration will help in providing a focused approach towards upgrading Indian drone manufacturing capabilities to meet defence requirements.” It will also allow businesses to benefit from the Indian Army’s expertise in the field. We are excited to collaborate.”