New Delhi: DJI China’s iconic drone Phantom has evolved to be the face of the drone industry. The Phantom represents the largest selling “ Buy & Fly “ category of drones the world over. An estimated 8 lac pieces of these drones have penetrated every nook and cranny of the country including an estimated 1.5 – 2 lac pieces in the Defence forces. The fact that majority of these drones are Made In China is an alarming aspect from a National Security perspective.
Vijay and Venkat, classmates from Sishya School, Chennai and running their own businesses decided to address this National priority by Developing and manufacturing “Ajeet Mini“ – India’s answer to Global Brands like DJI , Parrot and the likes. It could also address the global need for a non-Chinese Buy & Fly Drone is an added bonus to their Joint Venture. Both have jointly set up a company and manufacturing facility under the name of ZOGen5 ( Zuppa OEG Gen5 Technologies Pvt Ltd ) to manufacture drones like Ajeet Mini to be followed by Ajeet Nano, Ajeet, Vector etc.
While Venkatesh developed a globally unique patented computing architecture, India’s only fully Atmanirbhar Autopilot for unmanned systems and a range of applications, products and solutions across domains like IOT, ADAS and Vehicle telematics, Vijay went on to expand OEG Limited’s foot print into Defence manufacturing with the acquisition of an established Defence company Rockfort Engineering apart from leading the group operations in its core O&M of Power Plants in India and abroad and desalination businesses in India.
With the easing of drone regulations coupled with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat’s push for local defence manufacturing and technology, they saw an opportunity to set up one of India’s first drone manufacturing venture by combining the complementary strengths of technical genius and operational excellence to deliver “ MADE IN INDIA WORLD CLASS PRODUCTS “ to Indian customers initially and later on global reach.
ZOGen5 shall be propagating across its range of B&F sub 2 kg class drones including the sub 250 g Nano, Autonomous Tail-sitter Hybrid mapping drones. While Venkatesh shall continue to lead innovation through technology and product development to ensure that ZUPPA continues to be contemporary to global developments in the areas of unmanned systems and derivative applications, the company ZOGen5, he has founded with his friend Vijay shall focus on operational excellence.
ZOGen5 products will ensure that India’s Defence forces and civilians have to never again suffer the problems associated with dependence on illegally imported Chinese Drones that are prone to regular data theft.
Ajeet Mini – the first in a line of Indian Buy & Fly Drones by ZOGeN5 is set to be launched at the “Drone Festival of India 2022” that will be happening at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi on May 27-28, 2022. Ajeet Mini’s tag line of “World Class Performance, Made In India“ promises to deliver unmatched features like Stability, Ease of Flying, Application specific variants, End to End service with availability of spares at globally competitive prices to the emerging Indian Drone Industry.
With their sights set on meeting the global demand for Buy & Fly Drones, the duo are already drawing up plans and are in discussions with financers to set up India’s first “World Class and Scale Drone Manufacturing Plant“.