Aero India 2025: Indigenous unmanned aerial vehicles for combat makes its presence

Bengaluru: Pune-based startup, Ikran Aerospace and Technologies, displayed its indigenous armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) SIRIN A1 at the India Pavilion. 

The company is in talks with the Indian Air Force (IAF) and is testing the UAV that is designed to remotely engage in combat.

Led by army veteran Capt Vidul Kelshikar (retired), the startup has designed the UAV to be compatible with assault rifles such as AK-47 and AK-203 but it can also be modified to carry other such firearms, said a representative of the company. It has remote target acquisition and remote firing capabilities, operated by a ground control station, whose software is indigenous for precise UAV and assault rifle control. 

A fully-loaded SIRIN A1 can weigh up to 40 kg and has a service ceiling of 3 km with a maximum endurance of 30 minutes.

On Monday, Hind High Vacuum (HHV) Advanced Technologies, a thin film technology company, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), a nodal organisation for combat aircraft development in India, to enhance the country's capabilities in the defence, aerospace and automotive sectors.

This MoU will mainly focus on establishing a "state-of-the-art, robot-controlled sputter-coating facility" and developing an "advanced electrically conducive and optically transparent stealth coating process for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft's (AMCA) integrated canopy, windshield and other structural transparencies of the aircraft", read an official press release. This collaboration will also contribute to the development of advanced aircraft platforms, including the LCA Mk2, AMCA, and Twin-Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF).