IAF to indigenously produce Kamikaze drones with domestic partners

IAF to indigenously produce Kamikaze drones with domestic partners NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched a major project to jointly build indigenous long-range kamikaze drones with domestic Indian partners in order to prepare itself for drone-centric warfare in future.Aiming to develop a fully indigenous ecosystem for the design, development, manufacturing and sustainment of kamikaze drones, the IAF has issued a limited tender to select Indian companies for one-way attack unmanned aerial systems (OWA-UAS).OWA-UAS, or kamikaze drones, are self-sacrificing unmanned aerial vehicles that fly to a target area, locate enemies and detonate on impact.The tender says, “invitation of bids for indigenous design, development, setting up of manufacturing facilities and training for unmanned aerial systems”. To promote self-reliance (Atmanirbharta) in defence production, the kamikaze drone project will be handled by the 5 Base Repair Depot (BRD) at Sulur near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, which has been designated as the nodal agency.As per specifications, IAF will retain Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the drone platform that is proposed to be designed, developed and manufactured entirely in India with the help of home-grown companies and startups. End of Article