Top US drone manufacturer partners with Indian company to make high end drones

In a move that is expected to help India develop a manufacturing ecosystem for high-end drones, a top US drone manufacturer has announced a partnership with a leading Indian forging company to manufacture main landing gear components, subassemblies, and assemblies of remotely piloted aircraft in the country. 
San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), a subsidiary of General Atomics, said its partnership with Bharat Forge Ltd will result in significant capability-building for both companies and provide an impetus to the Indian large, unmanned aircraft industry.

 
“GA-ASI is eagerly looking forward to working with Bharat Forge in the critical field of aerostructure manufacturing,” said Vivek Lall, Chief Executive of General Atomics Global Corporation.

 With over five decades of experience in manufacturing a wide range of high-performance, critical safety components, Bharat Forge offers full-service supply capability from concept to product design, engineering, manufacturing, testing, and validation, a media release said.

 
“Bharat Forge’s expertise in the field of forging is known globally, and their outstanding contributions in the aerospace sector has inspired us to work together for building the next generation of the world’s most advanced unmanned aerial vehicles,” Lall said. Baba Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge Limited, said that aerospace is a high ‘technology intensive’ domain, which relies on product integrity, reliability, and zero defect.

"This is a culture by itself and demands a strong focus on people and processes. As part of our Aerospace Growth Strategy, our collaboration with GA-ASI is a strong testimony of our culture in Bharat Forge Aerospace to assimilate and demonstrate the same, as partners to General Atomics, in making India Atmanirbhar," Kalyani said.

In order to make India a global hub for the research and development, testing, manufacturing and 
operation of drones under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Central Government plans to create a growth-oriented regulatory framework for drones. Accordingly it released the liberalised Drone 
Rules, 2021 on 25th August 2021. In order to facilitate further growth, the Government has approved the Production Linked Incentive 
(PLI) scheme for drones and drone components in India (‘the scheme’).
The objective of this scheme is to incentivise manufacturing of drones and drone components in India so as to make them self-sustaining and globally competitive.