Army signs agreement worth ₹1.4 billion for Switch Drones; to be deploye

New Delhi/Mumbai: Indian Army is purchasing Switch Drones that are capable of flying in the inaccessible regions at extreme heights. The Army recently signed an agreement with the Idea Forge company for these drones. Three graduates have developed these drones from IIT-Mumbai and the ultimate goal is exporting these drones.

Indian Army needed drones capable of flying at extremely high regions like Ladakh having high wind speeds and capable of taking high-quality photographs and sending them to the military command centre. Some big companies also had expressed interest after the Army called for expression of interest. These included leading Israeli company Elbit manufacturing UV, Tata group, Dynamic Technology Limited, Asteria Aerospace and Vitol Aviation. Between 9 to 12 companies were trying to win the contract.

But Idea Forge emerged victorious among them. Three friends from IIT-Mumbai had formed Idea Forge company in 2007. The unmanned aircraft developed by this company has satisfied the criteria set by the Indian Army. The Indian Army selected the Switch Drone of Idea Forge after it was proved to be superior that the drones presented by the other companies. The agreement for this was signed recently.

These drones can easily fly up to heights of 4,000 metres from the sea level. The drone weighing six and a half kilograms does not require a runway, as these drones are capable of a vertical take-off like a helicopter. Switch Drones can fly uninterrupted for two hours and can immediately send the information to the command centre. The Army chose the Switch drones due to its capability to fly during day and night and bad weather.

High-capacity cameras have been fitted on these drones; the zoom capability of the cameras is 25 Lux optical. This will make excellent quality pictures available. The Idea Forge company informed that it would be supplying these drones to the Army in one year.