The Indian Army has procured 106 jet-powered Peacekeeper (Agniveg) drones from the defence manufacturer SMPP Ltd. The consignment includes 100 operational drones and 6 training drones.
These drones were developed in partnership with KB Indela, Belarus, and have been partially localized within India. The Peacekeeper drone has an operational range of 180 km. An upgraded variant of the drone, capable of reaching speeds of 750 kmph, has been proposed.
The Department of Posts under the Ministry of Communications has launched its first drone-based mail and parcel delivery service. The service operates between the Mandi Head Post Office and the Rehardhar Branch Post Office in Himachal Pradesh.
The Indian Army has inducted two indigenous combat systems named the UAV-Launched Precision Guided Munition (ULPGM) and the AGNIKAA VTOL-1 (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) First-Person View (FPV) Kamikaze Drone. These were procured from Adani Defence & Aerospace Limited under the Emergency Procurement-6 (EP-6).
The induction followed successful high-altitude and Electronic Warfare (EW) trials conducted in the presence of officials from the Western Command of the IA. The ULPGM, co-developed by the DRDO and Adani Defence & Aerospace Ltd, is the first indigenous loitering munition of India, while the AGNIKAA VTOL-1 is the first FPV kamikaze drone of India in its category.
Federal Express Corporation (FedEx), in partnership with the IIT Madras, has successfully completed the first-ever intra-city drone delivery flight trials in India, conducted in Bengaluru. The initiative was carried out under the research framework of the FedEx SMART Centre at the IIT Madras and implemented with Amber Wings, a deep-tech startup incubated at the institute.
The trials demonstrated that a 53 km road journey taking 60 minutes could be replaced by a 39-42 km flight route, reducing the transit time to 21 minutes.
The Technology Development Board (TDB) has signed an agreement with the Gurugram-based Casey Aviation Pvt Ltd for the “Boost Electric Jump Take-Off (BE-JTO)” project. The TDB has sanctioned a conditional grant for this project under the “India–UK Collaborative Research & Development (R&D) Programme for Industrial Sustainability”, in partnership with the UK-based ARC Aerosystems Ltd.
The project aims to develop an advanced hybrid propulsion-based Jump Take-Off (JTO) system to enhance the operational capabilities of unmanned and light aircraft platforms. Additionally, the initiative aims to establish one of the first propulsion testing facilities in North India.