KICKING UP A SWARM

THE ARMED FORCES START PLACING THEIR FIRST ORDERS FOR SWARM DRONES BUT THE NEED IS TO RAMP UP R&D FOR INDIGENOUS PROWESS IN THESE BATTLE-DEFINING MACHINES

- SANDEEP UNNITHAN

Tiny rotors whirring, the quadcopters raced across the field, their electronic eyes scanning the ground. After a 15-minute flight, the drones located their target—a solitary T-55 battle tank. Their cameras matched its image with a library of onboard targets. The drones then proceeded to drop their payload on the tank.

The demonstration was performed at an army cantonment in Secunderabad this August as officials from the Indian Army’s Simulator Development Division (SDD) tested drones fielded by a handful of private vendors. Had this been a live combat situation, the shaped charges (explosives designed to transmit all their blast force downwards) dropped by the drone would have punched through the top of the tank—where its armor is the thinnest—destroying it. This is the concept the army was looking to prove: the ability of drone swarms to demolish tanks over the horizon, beyond the range of ground-based anti-tank missiles.

Based on these tests, the army last month placed two fast-track procurement orders, worth Rs 100 crore each, with two private firms. Bengaluru-based NewSpace Technologies is contracted to supply a weaponized swarm of 50 drones with a 25 km range. New Delhi-based Raphe mPhibr will provide a swarm of 50 cargo drones that can carry 4 kg payloads to a distance of 25 km. These are the first drone swarm procurements by Indian armed forces. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is rebooting a 2018 contest to identify developers who can offer a drone swarm that flies 100 km (50 km up and 50 km down), autonomously identifies targets, strikes at them, and returns to the base after the mission. It will order at least 100 such units from one or multiple firms.