Porbandar: The Drishti 10 Starliner drone, built at Adani Defence and Aerospace’s Hyderabad facility, crashed off the Porbandar coast in Gujarat on Tuesday during its pre-acceptance trials.

This Indian-assembled heavy-duty drone, built under license by Adani Defence and Aerospace in collaboration with Israel’s Elbit Systems, crashed into the sea during pre-acceptance trials near Porbandar. The medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone, based on the Hermes 900 Starliner, was being tested by the vendor when the incident occurred. It is learned that the vendor has recovered the drone and will investigate the cause of the crash.

In 2023, both the Army and Navy ordered two of these advanced, satcom-enabled drones under emergency procurement rules each. With a flight ceiling of 30,000 feet, 36 hours of endurance, and a payload capacity of 450 kg, these drones are intended for long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Each unit is valued at about ₹120 crore. Despite the system’s cost of over ₹120 crore, the Indian Navy will not face any financial repercussions as the crashed drone had not yet been inducted.

The Navy received its first Drishti-10 in January last year, with the Army taking delivery of its second in June. The drone involved in Monday’s crash was meant for the Navy. DeshGujarat