A Hyderabad-based startup is soon going to unveil its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) manufactured in Guntur with several first-of-its-kind features in the country.
Headquartered in Hyderabad, Magnum Wings, a technology-driven aeronautical and aviation company, is set to demonstrate its first product called 'MW Viper' before potential clients from various sectors including Defence, within a week.
In an interaction with The Hindu, CEO of Magnum Wings, Abhiram Chava, hailing from Guntur, revealed the details of the UAV which could potentially replace manned helicopters used for surveillance.
Mr. Abhiram founded the company in New Jersey, U.S., after extensive research on drones and UAVs. “After years of research and finding that there are several flaws and setbacks to the existing drones and UAVs, I decided to start the company in 2016 and later established it in Hyderabad in 2019. Our manufacturing unit is in Guntur. Currently, we are building UAVs with a payload of up to 20 kg and a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 50 kg. They can fly at 100-200 kmph for three hours. We are trying to enhance the drone’s capacities,” Mr. Abhiram said.
"We are going to demonstrate them in a week. This UAV can be used by the defence sector for surveillance, forest departments to control forest fires. It can detect forest fires at an early stage and avoid burning down of larger areas," he said.
Magnum Wings chief strategy officer Saaketh Preetham said that UAVs were way ahead of commercial drones available currently in the country. "UAVs can reach higher altitudes, fly faster and carry a lot of weight. It can be a good replacement for a helicopter when used for surveillance. We are currently in talks with a potential client who is contemplating replacing helicopters for surveillance. Our first UAV will be demonstrated before four parties that evinced interest," he said.
“Drones fly up to a height of 400 feet while our UAV can fly up to 1,000 ft and more. Using batteries, our UAV can fly for two hours and cover 200 km of land area,” he said.
Mr. Abhiram said that the drone industry is more of assembling parts imported from abroad than local manufacturing. “At Magnum, we manufacture 90% of the product within the country and we are looking for research partners who can help us procure the 10% components from within the country,” he added.
