Army inks deals worth Rs 295 crore for spy drones & loitering munitions from desi private firms
NEW DELHI: Under emergency procurement powers granted to the armed forces to build and replenish stocks after Operation Sindoor, the Army has ordered small loitering munitions and mini surveillance drones in two contracts, collectively worth Rs 295 crore, from domestic private sector companies.
The DRDO, on its part, has also offered 28 of its weapon systems to the three services for emergency procurements. They range from rockets, air-to-air missiles and airto-ground missiles to laserguided bombs, torpedoes and shoulder-fired air defence missiles, among others.
Of the two contracts inked by the Army, the first is for around 450 Nagastra-1R loitering munitions or kamikaze drones, which are also capable of night operations, at a cost of Rs 158 crore from the Nagpur-based Solar Defence and Aerospace Ltd.
The other deal is worth Rs 137 crore with ideaForge Technology for hybrid miniUAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) systems, variants of the Switch drones with VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) capabilities, for ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) missions.
Variants of the Nagastra and the UAVs with VTOL are already in the Army's inventory and were extensively used during the cross-border hostilities with Pakistan from May 7 to 10. The fresh orders have to be executed within a year. The Nagastra, with a 360-degree gimbal camera and the option of putting a thermal camera for night operations, comes with a highprecision targeting system.
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