Mumbai-based drone manufacturer ideaForge has announced that it has won a repeat contract from the Army to supply 200 of its Switch mini Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) along with its accessories. The Army had earlier ordered the same UAV in two separate deals.
“ideaForge won this contract against stiff competition from Israel, Russia, Ukraine, France, India and others. The Switch UAV was the only system that emerged successful from the rigorous testing and field trials that the Indian Army is well known for,” a company statement said.
The traditional understanding was that a fixed wing UAV would be the ideal solution for last mile deployments, ideaForge said adding, on analyzing the actual operational constraints that the Army faced, they realised that a hybrid VTOL platform which can take off without a runway or by hand launching would be the ideal solution.
“ideaForge has engineered this product with the unique VTOL approach, keeping in mind the terrain challenges in the operational areas of the Indian Army,” Ankit Mehta, ideaForge Co-Founder and CEO,said in the statement. “Looking ahead, we want to take this expertise across the world, to everyone in need of protecting their borders or to empower their forces with unprecedented last mile situational awareness,” he added.
In the last two years, the Army has signed a series of contracts with Indian start ups for small drones for surveillance and load carrying.
The high-altitude Switch UAV is a VTOL drone that takes off vertically like a helicopter and then transitions into flying like a regular plane even in high altitudes with low temperatures, high winds and low density of air, according to the company. In that context, it is a drone that can be carried on the back of a Jawan and deployed, with confidence, to act as the eyes-in-the-sky for our forces, it said.
In January 2021, the Army signed a contract with ideaForge for Switch UAVs in a deal worth $20 million. It placed a repeat order to procure an undisclosed number of Switch UAVs to augment surveillance along the LAC. According to the company it has fulfilled the first order as per contractual obligations.
Other deals signed by the Army recently include deals for Swarm drones with Indian start ups, Bengaluru-based NewSpace Research and Tech and Noida-based firm Raphe. The drones from New Space Research and Tech can hit targets with 5-10 kg explosives while mR-20 drones of Raphe can carry cargo of up to 20 kg in high altitude areas.
In the second half of last year, the Army had also placed orders for ‘SkyStriker’ drones to be manufactured in Bengaluru by a joint venture between Israel’s Elbit System and India’s Alpha Design Technologies which is now part of Adani Group.
