Surat Startup Delivers 100 Combat Drones to Army in 60 Days

When soldiers at the border needed drones they could trust, a team in Surat decided to build them from scratch.

InsideFPV started in 2020, right after the Galwan clash exposed how much of India's military drone capability came from imports. Founders Arth Chowdhary, Deyvant Bhardwaj, and Oshi Kumari saw a gap and filled it with something practical: affordable, reliable drones designed for India's toughest conditions.

Their kamikaze drones hit speeds over 250 kilometers per hour and work in temperatures that drop to minus-35 degrees Celsius. That matters when you're flying at 17,000 feet in Ladakh, where the company won the Indian Army's Him Dron-a-thon competition.

The startup describes its products as "plug-and-fly," meaning soldiers can operate them with minimal training. That's the easy part. The harder engineering challenge is keeping them operational when GPS gets jammed or when extreme weather hits, which is exactly what InsideFPV designs for.

In April, the company fulfilled a 10 crore rupee Ministry of Defence contract in just two months, delivering FPV drones and training over 300 personnel. Soon after, they handed over 100 indigenous kamikaze drones to the Indian Army within 60 days.

The speed matters as much as the tech. Defense procurement usually moves slowly, but InsideFPV is proving that homegrown manufacturing can be both fast and dependable.

The Ripple Effect

Beyond the battlefield, InsideFPV runs a second business line building drone labs and training kits for schools across India. Their patented education drone puts hands-on technology into classrooms, creating the next generation of engineers who might build India's future defense systems.

The company has been profitable since year one and just raised 6 crore rupees to expand. They're building a 20,000 square foot facility to scale from hundreds of drones to thousands, meeting demand as the government pushes for indigenous defense manufacturing.

The startup has also signed agreements with an Israeli drone firm and caught attention beyond defense circles. Chowdhary appeared on Shark Tank India and made Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia list. Gujarat's chief minister and the Vice Chief of Army Staff have both visited to see the drones in action.

What started in a small Surat workshop is becoming a case study in how quickly India can build critical technology when talented people focus on real problems. The founders want InsideFPV to become a globally recognized Indian defense drone maker, serving both domestic forces and allied nations.

From a border clash to battle-ready drones in six years, India's defense manufacturing is finally taking flight.