BLUE SKY OPPORTUNITY

FROM CROWD CONTROL TO MILITARY COMBAT, DRONES ARE THE NEXT BIG THING IN SECURITY. DRIVEN BY AN AIR OF URGENCY AND ENCOURAGED BY THE CENTRE, A CLUTCH OF INDIAN START-UPs ARE NOW MAKING THEM

- Pradip R. Sagar

NOTHING MORE DRAMATIC HAS flown into our field of vision in the past decade than Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones. Their early use for commercial purposes was noted, and their use by the US in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan deemed by experts as the advent of a vital new instrument of making war.

Whether sci-fi worthy quadcopters or sinisterly sleek, fixed-wing military models, drones have only gained in prominence since then. It is also one of the fastest evolving technologies worldwide. In India, drones are being used for mapping highways and railway tracks, for watching over forests and for agricultural and administrative purposes. Most importantly, there is accelerating demand from the military for ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) capabilities as well as for machines that can carry out precision strikes on enemy targets. So vital is drone technology that the government's Drone Rules, 2021 sought to streamline and ease operations of drones, also giving a fillip to their manufacture and development in India. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has corroborated the move: it says the market potential of Indian drones is projected to be $40 billion in the next 10 years. With the Indian government's avowed intention to make the country a global hub for drone manufacturing, all this has driven a group of entrepreneurs to start ventures for manufacturing drones, where the pull of commercial profit meets the thrill of shaping new technology. In fact, there has been a 34.4 per cent surge in the number of drone start-ups between August 2021 and February this year from 157 to 221.

The Indian army is satisfied with our surveillance drones. Now our focus is on exports, as the military drone market is growing fast" NANDA KUMAR Founder, Garudan Drones