In January last year, an Indian firm received a $20 million contract to provide the country’s defense forces with its High Altitude SWITCH Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) within a year.
The SWITCH drone (ideaForge photo)
This is for the first time that the government entrusted an Indian company to deliver a high-tech, indigenous product in a short time span. A year later, following the timely delivery of the huge order despite the pandemic, the firm received yet another order for its drones.
Previous Order
In mid-January last year, it was reported that the Indian Army had inked a deal with ideaForge, an indigenous drone solutions firm, to procure an unspecified number of high-altitude SWITCH UAVs. The deal was valued at approximately $20 million.
According to a statement that the company had released back then, ideaForge was chosen for the deal after an evaluation process that was done in real-world conditions. SWITCH had then appeared to be the only drone after the trials and was chosen for the fast-track procurement.
Speaking to The EurAsian Times about requirements that had to be fulfilled and the challenges the firm had to tackle back then, Kruthi Aramanamada, General manager of Marketing at ideaForge, said, “The overall requirement that the army had was for a drone that a soldier can carry on their shoulder, without compromising on the performance aspect.
The other aspect was the high-altitude requirement. As the altitude increases, the air becomes thinner and it is difficult for most flights to take place there. In addition, the drone needed to survive is extreme temperature and weather conditions, from the hottest to coldest. These were the challenges posed to us.
In the statement that came out in January 2021, the company’s CEO Ankit Mehta was quoted as saying that the SWITCH UAV was the peak of insights and knowledge the company has gained over the years, through its experience in assisting the Indian forces in operationalizing UAVs in their ranks.
“The trials saw about a dozen national and global players compete to meet the operational requirements. SWITCH UAV is the only product that cleared the Indian Army’s stringent product trials and surpassed expectations,” he had highlighted.
The firm was able to fulfill the delivery without any delays despite the pandemic.
The Second Order
Following the successful delivery, ideaForge was given the responsibility of an additional order for the SWITCH drones. The number of drones ordered, or the worth of the newly signed deal has not been revealed yet. However, it is confirmed that the order has been placed by the Indian Army to strengthen its surveillance activities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border with China.
The company, in its press release, revealed that the Indian Army has “entrusted” it with “an additional order” for the same UAV. It noted that a defense official had also said that the forces “have received deliveries of the SWITCH 1.0 UAVs in time and are eager to strengthen our northern and eastern borders with swift induction of this force multiplier technology.”
When asked about the lessons that the firm learned from the process of fulfilling previous orders, Aramanamada said, “It (the contract for SWITCH drones in 2021) was a big order. To add to that, COVID posed the biggest challenge. There were cash flow challenges and disruptions in the global electronic supply chain. In addition, there was a limited team presence on the sho floor owing to covid protocols.
This made us realize the importance of always having a Plan-B and having swift action plans in place for any risks. The year 2020 had already readied us to prepare for large orders well beforehand, we always had a Plan-B in place just to make sure everything happens on time.”
The SWITCH drone (ideaForge photo)
When asked about possible advancements this new batch of drones might have, she noted that this drone is the same as the one previously offered. “It’s the same drone, but we are constantly testing and improving the product. However, broadly in terms of the features, it is the same product. It’s not really a larger, advanced version of this, but it will obviously incorporate all of the small changes and upgrades that we will do.”
The SWITCH UAV provided to the Indian forces does have some interesting specifications.
Salient Features
According to the ideaForge website, SWITCH is a first-of-its-kind Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) and fixed-wing hybrid unmanned vehicle. A VTOL feature, along with the hybrid nature of the UAV means that it combines the strengths of an aircraft with multiple rotors (multirotor) with those of the classical fixed-wing.
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