Today marked another momentous day for the drone industry of the country as Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi handed over two indigenously developed drones, ‘SWITCH 1.0 UAV’ developed by ideaForge Technologies and ‘MR-20′ developed by Raphe mPhibr Pvt Ltd. to Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Chandi Prasad Mohanty PVSM AVSM SM VSM at the Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.
Representing the Drone Industry of the country, the drones developed by ideaForge Technologies & Raphe mPhibr Pvt Ltd were presented by Smit Shah, Director, Drone Federation of India to the Prime Minister.
“Humbled to witness this revolutionary moment to represent India’s drone industry which working on developing cutting edge solutions to increase the capabilities of India’s Armed forces using UAV technology, I also appreciate the Government of India and India’s defence agencies’ initiatives to recognise the potential and use drone technology to increase India’s capabilities,” said Smit Shah, Director, Drone Federation of India.
“The SWITCH 1.0 UAV is already in production and is being delivered within the expected timelines. SWITCH 1.0 UAV, with its peerless capabilities of 1.5 hours flight time and 15 kms range at more than 4500 m take-off altitude, beat its international and domestic competitors to qualify for this deal. We feel very proud that our product SWITCH 1.0 UAV which we have been developing over the last few years will be inducted by the Indian Army to make our borders more secure and more importantly save the lives of our soldiers and citizens. This shall reinforce our self-belief and encourage the development of more technologies for India in India.” said Ankit Mehta, CEO, ideaForge.
The SWITCH 1.0 UAV having an endurance of approximately 90 minutes will support the Indian Army’s most demanding surveillance operations under harsh environments and high altitudes for day and night surveillance across India’s borders. The MR-20 hexacopter drones having a capacity to ferry loads of up to 20kg will be used to ferry food, essential items, emergency medical aid, ammunition and weapons to troops deployed at heights in forward areas.
About Drone Federation of India:
The Drone Federation of India (DFI) is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led body that promotes the drone industry by bringing policy change, creating business opportunities, developing a robust skilling infrastructure, developing standards, and promoting R&D efforts. DFI strives towards building a safer and scalable unmanned aviation industry by engaging with thought leaders, industry & academia experts, visionaries and policymakers.
