Army Floats RFI for 2,715 Logistic Drones to Resupply High-Altitude Frontiers

On August 5, 2026, the Ministry of Defence's Directorate General of Capability Development issued a Request for Information (RFI) for 2,715 logistic drones for the Indian Army. This requirement is graded into three categories: low-altitude (up to 6,000 feet), mid-altitude (6,000-12,000 feet), and high-altitude (12,000-20,000 feet). The procurement falls under the Buy (Indian-IDDM) route of the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, mandating that the platforms be designed, developed, and manufactured in India. The systems must operate in temperatures ranging from -30C to 50C, endure at least 1,000 landings over a service life of seven years or more, utilise NavIC alongside GPS and GLONASS, and be hardened against electronic jamming and spoofing.

This development represents a fundamental shift in the Indian Army's logistical calculus for the high Himalayas. Traditional supply chains along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Line of Control (LoC) rely heavily on porters, mules, and helicopter sorties using aging Cheetah fleets. These methods are manpower-intensive, vulnerable to extreme weather, and operationally constrained during peak winter. By integrating unmanned aerial systems into the last-mile supply chain, the Army aims to sustain forward posts in Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh more reliably during both peace and wartime.

The scale of this procurement highlights the rapid acceleration of India's unmanned logistics capability. The Army previously floated an RFI for 570 drones in December 2022, followed by a fast-track tender for 363 units in 2023, and another RFI in 2025. The latest requirement of 2,715 units represents a nearly five-fold increase over the 2022 baseline. This trend mirrors the broader integration of drones across India's border forces, including the 2023 procurement of 130 tethered surveillance systems for the LAC and the establishment of the Border Security Force's dedicated drone warfare school at Tekanpur in August 2025.

The strategic opportunity lies in establishing a resilient, indigenous supply chain for high-altitude operations. The test to watch is whether domestic manufacturers can meet the stringent technical requirements - specifically, the integration of NavIC navigation, LIDAR-based obstacle detection, and military-grade electronic countermeasures - within the specified cost and delivery parameters. Success in this procurement will validate the Indian drone industry's capacity to produce rugged, combat-ready logistics platforms, reducing the Army's reliance on risky and expensive manned aerial resupply.