3D-printed drones developed by 39 Gorkha Training Centre showcased at Surya Drona Tech-2025 event in Dehradun
DEHRADUN: The
39 Gorkha Training Centre
(GTC) in Varanasi developed lightweight
3D-printed surveillance drones
, whose broken parts can be quickly replaced if required. This is crucial for ensuring timely and effective responses to crises.
The drones were showcased during the two-day Surya Drona Tech-2025 event, organised by the Army's central command and the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) in the Uttarakhand sub-area in Dehradun from April 29–30.
Their operations were also showcased during a
live demonstration
at the event in front of
Uttarakhand Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh
, General Officer Commanding in Chief of the Army's central command Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta, and other dignitaries.
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Lt Col Vishal Bhatia of the 39 GTC told TOI that the drones are entirely designed and manufactured in-house by Army personnel at the centre. 'We are using 3D printers to make the drone structure. It takes around a day to do that, after which other components, including the battery and flight controller, are fitted. As of now, the drones made by the 39 GTC are for surveillance purposes only,' said Lt Col Bhatia.
Lt Col Bhatia said the use of 3D printers also allows quick replacement of any broken parts. 'The drones developed so far have a range of 10 km and an operational battery life of around 20–30 minutes, depending on the capacity of the battery fitted in them. They can send live feeds from the field to assist troops on the ground and are virtual reality (VR) enabled. The user-friendly operations of the drones, which work on fusion software, allow even a class 10th pass infantry soldier to operate them. We are also developing a wired drone to beat the drone jamming technology deployed to make wireless drones non-operational,' said Lt Col Bhatia.
Apart from the 39 GTC, a Gujarat-based firm, Optomized Electrotech, showcased an
AI-enabled surveillance camera
device that can 'identify individuals in crowds of even 5 lakh people by reading their face bone dimensions.'
Shivang Mishra, marketing head of the firm, said the device named Noctvision is already in use by Gujarat police and their counterparts in Daman & Diu.
'The device also helps in detecting a vehicle or a drone within a range of 12 km during the daytime and 6 km at night. It is equipped with thermal imaging cameras to detect targets in the dark. For detecting a target person in a crowd, one needs to just feed it a previously taken photo of him/her, and it will analyse its face bone dimensions for further action. It can also be used in stopping targeted people from entering any designated place by alerting the handler,' said Mishra.
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