Drones: Blue sky opportunity – India Today

From crowd control to military combat, drones are the next big thing in security. Driven by an air of urgency and encouraged by the Centre, a clutch of Indian start-ups are now making them

When it comes to defence and security, drones are the next big thing; (Original photo: Chandradeep Kumar, Illustration by Nilanjan Das)

Nothing more dramatic has flown into our field of vision in the past decade than Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones. Their early use for commercial purposes was noted, and their use by the US in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan deemed by experts as the advent of a vital new instrument of making war. Whether sci-fi worthy quadcopters or sinisterly sleek, fixed-wing military models, drones have only gained in prominence since then. It is also one of the fastest evolving technologies worldwide. In India, drones are being used for mapping highways and railway tracks, for watching over forests and for…