RattanIndia Enterprises has launched its first anti-drone product ‘Defender.’
The anti-drone has been developed by RattanIndia Enterprises’ step-down subsidiary Throttle Aerospace Systems.
RattanIndia’s wholly-owned subsidiary NeoSky India Ltd had acquired 60% stake in Throttle Aerospace earlier this year. Rattan India operates its drone business in India through NeoSky India.
Defender will be a 70% indigenous product with a 30% import component of BLDC motor and batteries. The manufacturing will take place at Throttle Aerospace’s Bengaluru manufacturing facility.
“The drone uses a net to capture the rogue drone. This soft-kill approach makes the drone cost-effective as instead of using a gun, we are using a net to neutralise the rogue drone. The anti-drone needs to be at a distance of 30 m to effectively project the net. This can move at a top speed of 26 m/s with a range of up to 20 km in a single flight,” Throttle Aerospace Founder and CEO Nagendran Kandasamy said.
This product can work both manually and via artificial intelligence that helps it to adjust its position as per the rogue drone movement. The soft-kill mechanism also helps in retrieval of rogue drones that can help in further probe, Kandasamy added.
While the company is producing around 45-50 drones every month, the manufacturing of Defender will be as per demand, officials from NeoSky and Throttle Aerospace said.
The company is in talks with multiple buyers for the product but is yet to secure an order. However, it believes that the cost efficiency of the product will work to its advantage.
NeoSky India is also working on consumer drones and going forward, there is expected to be a streamlining between NeoSky India and Throttle Aerospace operations.
While NeoSky may specifically work on consumer drones, Throttle is likely to focus on enterprise and defence drones.
Consumer drones are those that are popularly used for entertainment purposes such as for photography in weddings and events.
Enterprise drones are those that are used by governments and private companies for survey, mapping, public safety, and agriculture, among other things.
The company is set to launch more drones in the enterprise and defence segment by the end of the current financial year.
