The key objective of this Conference was to discuss on the achievable roadmap for indigenising the manufacturing of UAVs and Counter UAVs as they are needed in multi sectors and we have to develop our indigenous capability for our growing future needs.
Air Vice Marshal Rajiva Ranjan, VM, Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (ACIDS) (PP & FS), Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS), Ministry of Defence was the Chief Guest for the Conference. AVM Ranjan gave his forthright views on India’s drone market, the Armed Forces Perspective and pointers for the Industry and spoke of global trends and how the character of war has changed in the recent past and so has the technology with the 4th industrial revolution. He also highlighted that the weakness in the entire value chain was in the ideation phase and subsequently in the inability to convert that into a product. Industries must be involved during the Preliminary Design Review and Concept Design Review phases to be able to create a product roadmap and execute it right first time. He also put forth that industry considers the Essential Parameters B of any RFP to the benefit of the Armed Force. AVM Ranjan also suggested that while the opportunities exist the industry must come forward and register their company and products with the concerned agencies like IDS, DGQA and DDP.
Dr. (Smt.) Ranjana Nallamalli, Scientist ‘G’, Director, Directorate of Systems and Technology Analysis (DSTA) Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said that many subsystems of UAVs are still procured from abroad – Carbon fibre, core aerodynamics, camera. She also highlighted that 40% of TDF funding can be used to engage academia.
Mr. Arjun Kumar, DRDS Additional Director & Scientist Directorate Technology Development Fund (TDF) Defence Research & Development Organisation Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India gave a detailed presentation on their sanctioned projects and the underlying opportunities to MSMEs & Start-Ups through funding support and assistance in product development.
Col. Manik Anand, Planning Officer (Aerospace) Department of Defence Production Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India highlighted the various initiatives taken by the DDP to promote the MSMEs & Start-Ups in the Defence & aerospace sector.
Col. Sanjeev Nair (Retd.), Program Director, DIO-iDEX Department of Defence Production Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India encouraged the industry to apply for projects even with proof of concept, not limit to sanctioned/uploaded projects.
Mr. Rudra Shriram, Chair, Defence & HLS Committee, PHDCCI & Joint President, Dcm Shriram Ltd explained how Drone technology and startups are helping solve several real-world problems like high utility bills and poor security by bringing innovative solutions using drones.
Mr. Mridul Babbar, Director & Co-Founder, Sagar Defence Engineering highlighted the various opportunities particularly in the Drone Industry.
Mr. Smit Shah, President, Drone Federation of India (DFI) explained how the Drone Federation of India is working towards operationalizing procedures and processes for the drone industry.
Prof. Sudipto Mukherjee, Ford Chair Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, shared the various initiatives and support that they are giving to the Start ups and MSMEs in the defence and aerospace sector.
Mr. R. K. Narang, Director – Strategic Initiatives, Drone Federation of India (DFI) talked about how Indigenisation is bridging gaps, reducing vulnerabilities, increasing design, manufacturing and exports and also highlighted the real challenges on the subject.
Col. Ramit Arora, Senior Vice President, NewSpace Research & Technologies gave insight that 17 to 18 cases of autonomous flying drones being progressed by the Indian Army and NSRT produce 100% indigenous products.
Mr. Abhinav Varrey, Head of Sales & Communication, JOHNNETTE Technologies Pvt. Ltd explained how JOHNNETTE is Working closely with IA for a project for the last 1-1.5 years.
Mr. Rimanshu Pandey, Co-Founder and CTO, TSAW Drones shared his thoughts on civil space and explained about their organisation projects.
The session was moderated by Col. K V Kuber, Indian Army Veteran, Director – Aerospace & Defence, Ernst and Young.
It was attended by more than 150 industry delegates, especially from the Start-Ups & the MSMEs.
