Dhanbad: An indigenous drone developed by an IIT(ISM), Dhanbad, alumnus has nearly doubled the Indian Army’s endurance benchmark for high-altitude operations, flying for 1 hour 18 minutes 26 seconds at 14,000 ft in Arunachal Pradesh.The Vijay Z1, a compact all-weather electric quadcopter, was tested by the Army’s Eastern Command on Aug 3 and 4 at a high-altitude base camp and above Sela Top. It surpassed the prescribed 45-minute endurance target despite rain and fog.The drone was developed by Zenith Unmanned Systems Pvt Ltd, a start-up co-founded by Sourav Singh, an alumnus of the 2020 batch who completed his MTech in mining engineering in 2022. The company, established in 2025, is incubated at the Centre of Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE) of IIT(ISM).The project began in Aug 2025. The team has since built five prototypes, with the sixth and latest version completed in June this year.The latest Vijay Z1 has over 85% indigenous content, including a carbon fibre frame designed and developed by the team. The start-up said it has conducted over 1,000 hours of ground and crash testing.The 2.7-kg drone has a 40-km range and can operate at altitudes of up to 4,200 metres. It can carry a 500 g payload, expandable to 1.2 kg, and is designed to function in rain, dust, snow and extreme heat.It has recorded an endurance of 2 hours 22 minutes at mean sea level, 1 hour 20 minutes 33 seconds at 12,000 ft and 1 hour 18 minutes 26 seconds at 14,000 ft.Following the trials, the company received interest in early induction, while procurement-level validation testing is under way this month. “A self-reliant India cannot depend on others for technologies that safeguard its sovereignty and future,” Singh said.The start-up has a manufacturing capacity of 90 drones a month and is developing other unmanned systems and hybrid-propulsion platforms.
