New Delhi. In yet another boost to Make in India, Indian Navy is in talks with a Gurugram-based MSME Vortex UAS to induct company-manufactured drone Kamikaze for anti-piracy operations, a report said.
The report quoted Milind Kulshreshtha, Head, (International), Vortex UAS, as saying: “The company is planning to work on various new proposals like use of weaponised drones for the Indian Navy’s anti-piracy operations as support for MARCOS units.”
It may be noted here that earlier the company was working with Indian Army’s Northern Command and was part of their Research & Development (R&D) effort with drones (both the rotary & fixed wing). Following which a specialized Hexa drone developed by the company was delivered to the Army after going through the successful trials.
The concept behind this development was surveillance feature combined with action (of grenade drop etc.) as part of anti-terrorism activities. Later, post the interaction with National Security Guard (NSG), a new requirement for manufacturing smaller sized drone capable of carrying high explosive payload, with a provision to trigger this explosive remotely came up.
The weaponised drone named Kamikaze with its self-destruction capability is a game changer in counter-piracy operations. A pair of the destructive drone has a capacity to blasting through windows even if the terrorists hiding in buildings/bunkers and hunt down the enemy.
Kamikaze drones can be upscaled as per its explosive carrying requirements. The drones are manufactured locally in India by Vortex UAS with programmable electronics procured from overseas, Kulshreshtha observed. The company sees its competition with US and Israel, while other countries are still working on this technology.
Vortex UAS delivers drone based customised solutions for real world problems to government and private agencies including surveillance, governance and photomapping services.
Incubated over the past 15 years, Vortex focus has been on foundational research in key technology areas to enable effective use of drones. The company has strategic tie-up with Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad and IIT-Delhi to jointly develop technologies and software.
Based on its latest innovations, Vortex has developed several state-of-the-art, compact and economical, indigenously made unmanned aerial systems that employ fixed wing / rotary drones with options for visual and audio sensors that are exceptionally suited for multitude of military and civilian applications.
