'Vibhram' is a high-endurance multi-role gasoline-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle designed to meet a variety of applications

Aiming to promote the government's quest for the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative in defence technology and reduce dependency on foreign countries, the Indian Army's Northern Command organised a two-day North Tech Symposium wherein a number of technologies were showcased at Udhampur, Jammu.

Among the technologies displayed was 'Vibhram' -- Indian start-up EndureAir's High-Efficiency Dissimilar Coaxial Helicopter. The helicopter has been designed in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur.

In August 2017, 'Vibhram' won the third prize in the 34th Annual Student Design Competition organised by the American Helicopter Society. On January 8, 2021, the design was shown to late Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on the occasion of Army Technology Day. Later, it was displayed on January 15 on Army Day.

Unmanned Drone Helicopter 'Vibhram':

'Vibhram' is a high-endurance multi-role gasoline-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle designed to meet a variety of applications.

It has a two-hour hovering endurance with a day and night camera payload that can be useful for purposes like surveillance, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high yield explosives detection, crowd monitoring, pipeline inspection, and forest fire detection among others.

It can carry four kilograms of payload at sea level at a speed of 70 km/h for long-range payload delivery and surveillance from a long standoff distance. It is fitted with a fully functional and robust autopilot system.

The autopilot system also includes multiple redundant fail-safe measures, which makes it a reliable tool in critical applications.

The drone is said to be around 20 per cent more efficient than the existing motor design like the traditional single main rotor and tail rotor and the Regular coaxial design.

It can be used by the army and the Air Force. It consumes less fuel in comparison to traditional helicopters.

Meet Team 'Vibhram' From IIT-Kanpur

The team is headed by Karthik S, who is pursuing MTech while Rahul Ramanujam is the technical leader, PhD).

Among other members include, Ramdas (PhD), Diksha Aggarwal (MTech), Sakshi Gupta (MTech), Avinash Shet (MTech), Vishesh Kumar Singh (MTech), and Naba Kishore Routray (MTech). They all are from the Aerospace Engineering Department of IIT Kanpur.

The project was carried out under the guidance of Prof Venkatesan and Prof Abhishek.

The Symposium focussed on the government's vision of self-reliance in defence technologies. North Tech Symposium 2022 showcased cutting edge technologies providing solutions to the operational challenges faced by Northern Command.