Labourer’s son turns Rs 87,000 drone prototype into Rs 3.5 crore Army project

A fifth-semester computer engineering student from Himachal Pradesh has secured a Rs 3.5 crore grant from the Union Ministry of Defence to develop a specialised drone for Indian Army border surveillance. Sarvesh Sharma, a student of Government Polytechnic, Hamirpur (Baru), will work on the indigenous ‘Rudra Edge T-1 (Spectra)’ drone under the Ministry of Defence's Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) and Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative.As reported by The Tribune, the grant was approved under the MoD's defence innovation programme. The drone is being developed for surveillance in high-altitude border areas. Sharma has said that it is designed to evade enemy radar detection and resist electronic jamming attempts. However, these capabilities will only be confirmed after the drone is developed and tested.Sarvesh comes from a low-income familySharma comes from Bahanvi village in Hamirpur.