The logo of JSW. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

JSW Defence Pvt. Ltd. and US defence technology company Shield Ai Inc have announced a tie up to indigenize and manufacture Shield AI’s “V-BAT,” a Group 3 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). 

“This collaboration marks a significant step in boosting India’s defense capabilities by bringing in world-class UAS technology to the country,” the company said in a statement. 

As part of the partnership, the JSW Group will invest around $90 million in the next two years, with $65 million allocated in the first 12 months to establish JSW’s global compliance program, a manufacturing facility to ensure proper technology licensing, and training of manpower. 

“This investment will enable JSW to establish a local supply chain and create an advanced facility in India for manufacturing, assembling and testing V-BAT aircraft. This effort will enable large-scale production of V-BATs in India to serve the needs of the Indian Armed Forces and also function as a global production hub for Shield AI,” the company said.

The V-BAT is a fixed-wing, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), long endurance intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) platform, currently deployed by multiple armed forces around the world, including the United States’ Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs). 

It provides cutting-edge ISR functionality in a highly tactical system, capable of being forward deployed in complex and adversarial territory in order to provide a range of flexible solutions to special forces, front-line infantry, armored and artillery units. V-BAT has a unique patented ducted design with the advantage of a small logistics footprint and ease of rapid deployment.

Parth Jindal of JSW Group said, “Our collaboration with Shield AI is in keeping with our commitment to induct mission-critical technologies for deployment by the Indian Armed Forces and play an integral role in indigenizing defense technology in India. Through this partnership, we will be able to supply indigenous V-BATs at scale, provide flight operator training, and end-to-end maintenance, repair & overhaul (MRO) services to the Indian Armed Forces.”

“The JSW Group has always believed in bringing world class products and services with State-of-the-Art technology into India and this partnership is yet another milestone in this journey,” he said. 

Sarjan Shah, Shield AI’s Managing Director for India, said, “Shield AI has been an early mover on investing deeply in India, in line with both governments’ desires for a closely integrated defense supply chain between the US and India. This partnership with JSW has been crafted over a multi-year period to transform the depth, scale and scope of India’s indigenous capabilities in the field of military unmanned systems. We look forward to doing a lot more with our partners in India.”