As PM Modi pushes for desi drones, army plans Rs 20k cr munitions, surveillance systems

Vayu Astra-1 has been validated through high-altitude and desert trials before the company secured the Army contract.NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi, in his I-Day speech on Saturday, stressed that “India must develop indigenous drone and counter-drone systems and take leadership in hypersonic defence technologies”.His statement came a day after the defence ministry on Friday issued the biggest-ever single purchase order for drones — 84 sets of loitering munition system along with 840 loiter munitions — under the fast-track procedure to Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) and Pune-headquartered NIBE Ltd.Friday’s order forms part of the Indian military’s broader and massive modernisation programme valued at over Rs 20,000 crore to induct advanced indigenous loitering munitions, surveillance systems