InsideFPV Delivers ₹10 Cr Kamikaze Drones to India's MoD in 2 Months
The rapid delivery of a ₹10 crore kamikaze drone contract by Gujarat-based InsideFPV to the Ministry of Defence highlights a significant shift in India's defence procurement. The drones were supplied within two months using the Emergency Procurement Route.
The turnaround demonstrates InsideFPV's manufacturing speed, and equally the MoD's move toward faster buying to meet urgent operational needs. The EPR is designed to accelerate critical equipment purchases and has been used before for acquisitions worth hundreds and thousands of crores. InsideFPV's performance suggests India's private defence firms can now meet strict military deadlines reliably.
Built for jammed skies and -35°C
InsideFPV's kamikaze drones are designed for the conditions India's military actually operates in, rather than adapted from off-the-shelf models. They are built to work where GPS signals are jammed or unavailable, and to withstand temperatures from -35°C to 50°C. That focus on ruggedness places the company in a specific and defensible part of the defence drone market.
The company raised ₹6 crore in a pre-Series A round in January 2026, led by GVFL, bringing total funding to $1.81 million. That backing supports a planned move into a larger 20,000 square foot facility to handle bigger contracts.
Where it sits in the market
The contract is a clear instance of the government's Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India efforts to build local defence manufacturing and cut import dependency. India's defence tech sector is growing quickly, with the overall market expected to rise from $7.6 billion in 2025 to $19 billion by 2030, close to 20 per cent annual growth. The military drone segment is a key driver, projected to grow from $1.55 billion in 2024 to about $5.5 billion by 2032.
Government support through the Production-Linked Incentive scheme and restrictions on drone imports further encourage domestic production. Other Indian companies are winning significant deals — ideaForge's ₹137 crore contract and Bharat Forge's ₹300 crore in drone supply agreements among them. InsideFPV's win is smaller, but decisive for its specialised niche.
The hurdles that remain
Scaling production to meet large military demand is the principal challenge for smaller companies, which is what the facility upgrade is meant to address. The market is competitive, with established firms such as ideaForge and Garuda Aerospace and a long tail of startups all pursuing MoD contracts.
InsideFPV's focus on tactical kamikaze drones is an advantage, but staying ahead technologically requires continued R&D, particularly in swarming and GPS-denied navigation. As a private company its financial position is less visible than that of listed rivals, and its business depends heavily on government buying cycles, which can be slow even through fast-track routes.
Its stated next steps are to convert this contract into larger orders and to advance product development, including research into interceptor drones and swarming, alongside expansion into international markets.