Two 20-year-old engineering students from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad campus, have created a buzz in India’s defence circles with their indigenously developed kamikaze drones.
Built entirely inside their hostel room, these radar-proof, bomb-dropping UAVs are already in service with Indian Army units across multiple states, all within just two months of launching their start-up, Apollyon Dynamics.
Jayant Khatri, a mechanical engineering student from Ajmer, Rajasthan, and Sourya Choudhury, an electrical engineering student from Kolkata, began their journey with a shared passion for robotics.
Using off-the-shelf parts, they customised drone systems specifically for Indian terrains.
Their standout model is a kamikaze drone that reaches speeds over 300 kmph, five times faster than standard UAVs. It delivers a 1kg payload with pinpoint precision.
“Our drones aren’t just fast; they’re radar-invisible,” said Choudhury.
The team assembles each UAV in-house, focusing on ruggedness and adaptability. The duo credits their defence-tech club at BITS for laying the foundation for their innovation.
The Army Comes Calling
The venture began with a few cold emails. “I just started messaging officers on LinkedIn,” Khatri recalled. A colonel responded and invited the students to Chandigarh for a live demo.
After showcasing their drones’ capabilities, including bomb-dropping and racing variants, word spread quickly. Orders followed, and Apollyon Dynamics was officially born.
Since then, the Army has deployed its drones in units based in Jammu, Chandimandir (Haryana), Panagarh (West Bengal), and Arunachal Pradesh. The start-up also offers hands-on training to Army personnel, many of whom have no prior flight experience.
The Apollyon team now includes six second-year students working on next-generation VTOL and fixed-wing platforms, aiming to expand mission flexibility and capabilities.
Their vision is clear: reduce India’s reliance on imported defence technology.
“It’s heartening to see what they’ve achieved,” said Professor Sanket Goel of BITS Pilani, proud of their real-world impact.
Unlike fictional stories of missed opportunities, these students turned a hostel room into a defence-tech lab and the Army answered.
Their story marks a powerful chapter in India’s home-grown military innovation, one driven by youthful ambition and national purpose.
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