The Indian military never ceases to surprise and to truly inspire. With ‘Atmanirbharta’ and innovation being the abiding themes of the times, such surprises are happily becoming more frequent in the Indian Army.
While on one hand, India is contracting to buy 31 MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems or drones at a stupendous $3.5 billion from the United States, an infantryman from the 22 Sikh Regiment has done much more than his bit by designing a drone that can fight and fire, mount surveillance and monitor, and deliver payloads. In other words, a drone as versatile as can be!
What Hawaldar Varinder Singh has done is to make a 35 kg Octacopter drone, equip it with real-time video capability that is displayed on a remote screen and shareable with command centres, and then fit it with both automatic and remote remote-firing capability in an amazing showcasing of that wonderful Indian spirit of ‘jugaad’ or making do with whatever is available to churn out the optimum solution.
The weapons that have been tried, tested and fired from the ‘jugaad’ drone include AK-47 assault rifles, multi-grenade launchers, high explosive grenades, and even the Light Machine Gun in an under-slung fitment.
With an operational range of 8-10 km in plains and high-altitude areas, the Octacopter is proving to be a versatile platform as it can be used for transporting weapons, ammunition, medicines, or mission-critical supplies to forward and difficult locations.
In order to enhance its effectiveness, the Octacopter now comes equipped with GPS, night-enabled zooming cameras for surveillance, and autonomous flight capabilities via mission-planning software. It is also compatible with both Defence Series Maps and open-source mapping systems, further enhancing its deployment flexibility.
What Hawaldar Singh began with a little tinkering around with a humble hexacopter prototype in 2023 has become a versatile mission-ready military drone now, with its operational credibility already being proved during Operation Teesta after the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood in Sikkim in October 2023 and in war games like Bharat Shakti.
Hawaldar Singh has been awarded Vishisht Seva Medal by President Droupadi Murmu for the development of the drone. The award is presented to Indian armed forces personnel to acknowledge their “distinguished service of a high order.”
