The Indian Navy will soon induct the country’s first passenger-carrying drone, the ‘Varuna’, manufactured by the Pune-based Indian firm Sagar Defence Engineering Private Limited. A demonstration of this personal air vehicle, an autonomous multi-copter drone powerful enough to transport a passenger, was displayed at the summit meeting of this year’s Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Seminar in July. The drone has been designed in collaboration with the Navy and it can land and take off from moving warships.
According to the reports, ‘Varuna’ has been developed and constructed by Chakan-based Sagar Defence Engineering Private Limited. The manufacturers say that this drone can transport products also including liquids, equipment, and humans using a conventional payload attachment.
This platform can also pick up 100 kg of cargo/conduct medical evacuation. It can fly for around 30 mins with a range of 25-30 km. In case of malfunction,it has a ballistic parachute that can come up. We are working towards urban air mobility: Founder, Sagar Defence Engineering pic.twitter.com/s7k3Yd1CjC
— ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2022
The passenger drone, which can be remotely piloted or flown autonomously along predefined routes, can carry a variety of payloads between its landing gear. It can carry weights of up to 130 kg and travel 25 to 30 kilometres in half an hour. “In case of malfunction, it has a ballistic parachute that can come up. We are working towards urban air mobility”, one of the founders of Sagar Defence Engineering confirmed.
Capt. Nikunj Parashar, co-founder of Sagar Defence Engineering alongside Babbar and Lakshay Dang have developed the ‘Varuna’ drone for the Indian Navy. The main goal of this drone is to produce indigenous technology that can be nurtured and deployed to protect forefront fighters on the battlefields while also strengthening national surveillance and security.
Babbar stated that when the program started, the organization’s initial concerns were the requisite approvals and financial backing for this project; however, the organisation was fortunate to receive assistance and guidance from the Navy, iDEX team, and Ministry of Defence, who linked the manufacturers’ team with Mazgaon Dockyard Limited for funding.
Earlier talking about the development o the drone, Capt. Nikunj Parashar had said that this drone has been made specifically for use by the Indian Navy. He said, “Varuna has been developed in two parts. One being the technology which helps it to land and take off from moving warships and the second being the platform itself. The landing and taking off technology has been developed in tandem with Indian Navy DSR and the Varuna is currently being developed along with NTDAC (Naval Technology Development acceleration cell).”
As Varuna is capable of carrying out autonomous take-off and landing even when the ships are moving, it can be used for inter-ship transfer of material and personnel. The passenger drone has several other advantages, such as casualty evacuation in the event of a road accident, usage as an air ambulance in distant communities, use as an air taxi in metro areas, emergency evacuations, disaster relief, and medical crises, and so on. The induction of a drone like this will also help the Indian Navy to strengthen national surveillance and security.
