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Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia flags off the Doon Drone Mela 2021 in Uttarakhand

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Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia along with the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, General (Retd.) Dr. V.K. Singh flagged off the Doon Drone Mela 2021 in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.Shri Scindia flagged off the event with a paragliding demonstration and also interacted with the drone companies exhibiting their prototypes at the Doon Drone Mela.

On the occasion, Shri Scindia said, “We recognise the immense opportunities which usage of drones bring in. The Government of India is working towards enabling the same with a liberalized drone policy and the launch of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme. We insist that the Uttarakhand Government works towards developing Dehradun as an Aerosports and Drone Hub of India,” said Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia.”

Shri Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, MoCA along with other senior officials of the MoCA were also present at the launch. Moreover, the other attendees of the program included students and personnel from the Local Police Force, State Disaster Response Force, Wildlife Institute of India, UPES – University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, IMS Unison University, Information Technology Development Agency, ITDA Dehradun, and various dignitaries from the Indian Drone Industry.

The day marked the demonstration of the Drone & Aerosports Demonstrations that included a paragliding demonstration by the Border Security Force, a Paramotor demonstration by Harsh Sachan, and an agriculture spraying drone demonstration by IoTechWorld Aviation & Dhaksha. Furthermore, the event also included an emergency search & response drone demonstration with an indigenously 3D-printed drone by the Drone Application and Research Centre (DARC) & State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). It was followed by a brief survey drone demonstration by the Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS) under the SVAMITVA Scheme along with a training drone demonstration by Sqn Ldr Varsha Kukreti (Retd.).

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AerospaceCOVER STORYDefence Industry & TechnologyDrones

India & US sign Project Agreement for Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

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Key Highlights:

• Project Agreement signed between Ministry of Defence & US Department of Defence under Defence Technology & Trade Initiative.
• Significant step towards deepening defence technology cooperation between India & US
• Outlines collaboration between Indian Air Force & DRDO towards design, development, demonstration, testing and evaluation of systems to co-develop ALUAV Prototype

Ministry of Defence and US Department of Defence signed a Project Agreement (PA) for Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) under the Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) on July 30, 2021. The PA for ALUAV falls under the Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation (RDT&E) Memorandum of Agreement between Ministry of Defence and US Department of Defence, which was first signed in January 2006 and renewed in January 2015. The agreement is a significant step towards deepening defence technology collaboration between the two nations through co-development of defence equipment.

The main aim of DTTI is to bring sustained leadership focus to promote collaborative technology exchange and create opportunities for co-production and co-development of future technologies for Indian and US military forces. Under DTTI, Joint Working Groups on land, naval, air, and aircraft carrier technologies have been established for focus on mutually agreed projects in respective domains. The PA for co-development of ALUAV has been overseen by the Joint Working Group on Air Systems and is a major accomplishment for DTTI.

The PA outlines the collaboration between Air Force Research Laboratory, Indian Air Force, and Defence Research and Development Organisation towards design, development, demonstration, testing and evaluation of systems to co-develop an ALUAV Prototype. The Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) at DRDO and the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), along with the Indian and US Air Forces, are the principal organisations for execution of PA.

The agreement was signed by the co-chairs of the Joint Working Group Air Systems under DTTI, Assistant Chief of Air Staff for Plans Air Vice Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari from the Indian Air Force and Director, Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate Brigadier General Brian R. Bruckbauer from the US Air Force.

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Civil Aviation

Indian Government Approves PLI Scheme for Drones and Drone Components

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New Delhi: Taking another step towards realising our collective vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the Central Government under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for dronesand drone components.

Drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy. These include– agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geo-spatial mapping, defence, and law enforcement to name a few. Drones can be significant creators of employment and economic growth due to their reach, versatility, and ease of use, especially in India’s remote and inaccessible areas.

Given its traditional strengths in innovation, information technology, frugal engineering and its huge domestic demand, India has the potential of becoming a global drone hub by 2030.
The PLI scheme comes as a follow-through of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 released by the Central Government on 25 August 2021. The PLI scheme and new drone rules are intended to catalyse super-normal growth in the upcoming drone sector.

Thanks to the new rules and the incentive scheme, the drones and drone components manufacturing industry may see an investment of over INR 5,000 crore over the next three years. The annual sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry may grow from INR 60 crore in 2020-21 fold to over INR 900 crore in FY 2023-24. The drone manufacturing industry is expected to generate over 10,000 direct jobs over the next three years.

The drone services industry (operations, logistics, data processing, traffic management etc.) is far bigger in scale. It is expected to grow to over INR 30,000 crore in next three years. The drone services industry is expected to generate over five lakh jobs in three years.

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