Mumbai: ideaForge Technology Limited, India’s leading manufacturer of high-performance unmanned aerial systems, December 11 announced the signing of a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to strengthen drone-led emergency response across India and jointly advance research in next-generation UAV, semiconductor and data-driven technologies.
The partnership brings together ideaForge’s FLYGHT platform, a ready-to-deploy, on-demand drone network delivered through a Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) model, with C-DAC’s Emergency Response Support System (ERSS–Dial 112), which enables anyone to access emergency services such as police, fire or medical assistance through a single nationwide emergency number. With India’s average emergency response time nearing twenty minutes, integrating FLYGHT into ERSS will significantly improve response efficiency by enabling drones to serve as rapid first responders. Deployed ahead of ground teams, these drones can deliver immediate situational awareness, support faster threat assessment, improve responder and citizen safety, and overcome barriers caused by traffic, terrain or limited resources.
ideaForge’s FLYGHT platform allows agencies to access drone capability without owning hardware, managing software, or training specialised manpower, making scalable adoption easier for States and public safety departments. Apart from emergency response, FLYGHT is also used in urban environments for emergency response, traffic monitoring, asset inspection, mapping, sanitation inspection, urban disaster assessment, and infrastructure security. The service can be availed as per ‘pay per use’ model which helps organisations reduce the initial investment while achieving higher operational efficiency.
Beyond emergency response, the MoU establishes a broad framework for collaborative innovation between ideaForge and C-DAC across deep-tech and UAV domains. This includes the evaluation and potential integration of the indigenous VEGA processor into ideaForge’s UAV platforms, exploration of VEGA-based system-on-chip (SoC) architectures for flight control systems, and joint research into autonomous swarm drones leveraging AI and advanced computing. Both organisations will engage in shared research, development and training programmes to accelerate India’s deep-tech capabilities.
Speaking on the collaboration, Sachin Pukale, AGM, Product Management ideaForge, said, “Unmanned aerial systems are becoming central to how India manages security, governance and emergency operations. Integrating FLYGHT with ERSS will allow Automated Aerial Dispatch of drones to reach incidents within minutes and provide critical situational awareness intelligence to responders on the ground. FLYGHT is ideaForge’s Integrated Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) Platform, designed to provide enterprises and government agencies with on-demand, reliable aerial intelligence and analytics without the burden of drone ownership, operation, maintenance, or manpower. Its open, analytics-ready architecture enables easy integration of specialised third-party solutions, making FLYGHT a robust end-to-end system for rapid, data-driven decision-making. This integration is a testament to ideaForge’s commitment to utilising indigenous technology to serve national security and public welfare needs through its scalable, service-driven FLYGHT ecosystem.”
Speaking on the collaboration the C-DAC team, said,“C-DAC is committed to strengthening India’s digital public infrastructure by building secure, scalable and intelligent data services for critical sectors. Our collaboration with ideaForge opens new opportunities to harness drone-generated data for faster decision-making, especially in emergency response scenarios. Through this MoU, we aim to jointly develop frameworks that ensure drone data is efficiently processed, analysed and safeguarded while enabling advanced applications such as autonomous operations, AI-led analytics and real-time situational awareness. Together, we look forward to enabling a future where trusted data and cutting-edge UAV technology work seamlessly to enhance citizen safety and national preparedness.”
The partnership aligns with India’s priority of building secure and sovereign digital infrastructure. C-DAC plays a central role in enabling secure data management for government and mission-critical applications. Integrating ideaForge’s aerial intelligence with C-DAC’s data and compute frameworks creates a natural pathway for developing UAV systems that are not only operationally effective but also aligned with India’s data sovereignty goals and safety requirements. Through this MoU, both organisations aim to accelerate the use of drones in emergency response, advance India’s deep-tech ecosystem, and support the national vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat by enabling scalable, secure and indigenous technology development.
